,/ 


THE 


PRINCIPLE  OF  PROTESTANTISM 


AS    RELATED    TO   THE 


BESKNT   STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


M: 


%        ft 


»V     f, 


PHILIP  SC^IfLK^  Pk.  D. 

Professor  of  Church  History   and  Biblical  Literature  ii  the 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Ger.  £ef.  Church. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN 

WITH   AN  .    . 

I*  INTRODUCTION 

•^.J^y    JOHN    W.    N  E  V  I  N,    D.  Do 


.PUBLICATION    office"    OF   ^HE    GERMAN   JlEFORMED   CHURCH. 

184:5. 

J 


-m 


^^  PRINCETON.  N.  J.  ^^ 


Library  of  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge.      Presented. 


Division .....r!::^.... 

Section 

Nujnbrr  


INTRODUCTION. 

The  work,  of  which  a  translation  is  here  presented  to  the  English 
public,  has  grown  out  of  the  author's  Inaugural  Address,  delivered  at 
Reading  on  the  25th  of  October,  1844,  and  still  retains  to  some  extent 
it3  original  form.  Only  a  part  of  the  Address  however  as  previously 
prepared,  was  spoken  at  that  time  ;  and  it  has  been  since  considerably 
changed  and  enlarged  in  the  way  of  preparation  for  the  press.  It  ia 
now  accordingly  m6re  like  a  book  than  a  pamphlet.  Ifthismay  be 
supposed  to  require  any  apology,  it  is  found  in  the  difficulty  and  impor- 
tance of  the  subject,  and  in  the  anxiety  of  the  writer  to  have  his  views 
with  regard  to  it  fully  understood,  from  the  first,  by  the  Church  which 
has  called  him  into  her  service.  Both  the  difficulties  and  perils  of  the 
subject  indeed  were  felt  to  be  greater  in  the  progress  of  the  work  than 
had  been  anticipated  at  the  start ;  and  hence  it  became  necessary  that 
the  investigation,  only  to  do  justice  to  itself,  should  be  extended  in  the 
same  proportion. 

It  is  trusted  that  the  circumstances  which  have  led  to  the  publice^- 
tion,  will  exonerate  the  author,  in  the  view  of  all  reasonable  persona, 
from  the  charge  of  any  improper  presumption,  in  venturing  so  soon 
before  the  American  public  with  the  discussion  of  so  momentous  a 
theme.  He  has  himself  felt  sensibly  the  delicacy  of  his  position  in 
this  respect ;  and  would  have  been  glad  in  the  end  to  have  kept  back 
'ie  work  entirely,  if  circumstances  had  permitted,  until  he  might  have 
iv.come  more  fully  acquainted  with  the  relations  of  the  Church  in  this 
c-untry,  that  so  no  room  might  have  been  left  for  the  semblance  of 
i  'ipropriety  even  in  his  making  them  the  subject  of  public  remark.  But 
t;ie  case  has  been  one,  which  he  had  no  power,  properly  speaking,  to 
'  mtrol.  His  inauguration  made  it  necessary  that  he  should  deliver 
n  address  ;  and  he  felt  it  to  be  due  to  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion, 
that  he  shoald  select  a  theme  of  central  interest,  belonging  to  the  life 
of  the  age,  and  suited  to  reveal  his  own  general  position  with  regard  to 
ihe  Church.     The  theme,  as  already  mentioned,  has  controled  the 


cjharacter  of  the  discussion.  The  publication  of  the  whole  in  its 
present  form,  has  been  in  obedience  simply  to  the  law,  by  which  in 
the  nature  of  the  case  every  such  address  is  required  to  appear  also  iu 
print.  The  work  besides  has  been  prepared  primarily  and  immediate- 
ly for  the  use  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  in  this  country,  and 
with  an  eye  mainly  upon  the  German  community  in  general.  As  now 
translated  moreover,  it  is  still  a  work  intended  directly  of  course  for 
the  German  Church  so  far  as  this  has  become  English  ;  though  it  is 
expected,  of  course,  that  it  will  command  in  this  form  a  still  wider 
interest.  In  any  view  however,  the  responsibility  of  the  translation 
belongs  not  to  the  author. 

In  the  circumstances  described,  it  is  not  strange  certainly  that  the 
work  should  be  pervaded  with  a  true  transatlantic  German  tone,  from 
beginning  to  end.  I  have  endeavoured  indeed  to  make  the  translation 
run  smooth  and  free  in  English,  so  far  as  the  mere  language  is  concern- 
ed. But  the  method,  and  argument,  and  thought,  will  be  found  to  a 
great  extent  invincibly  German  still.  How  could  it  in  fact  be  other- 
wise 1  The  writer's  entire  nature  and  constitution  are  German.  His 
whole  "Entwickelung"  besides  has  proceeded  from  the  first,  in  the 
element  of  German  thought  and  feeling,  under  the  active  power  of  a 
thoroughly  German  education  ;  up  to  the  moment,  when  without  all 
previous  expectation  on  his  own  part,  he  found  himself  as  by  a  divine, 
voice  constrained  to  quit  Berlin  for  Mercersburg.  In  such  a  case,  who 
would  expect  him  to  appear  here  in  any  different  character  ?  He  is 
entitled  to  indulgence  at  least,  as  not  yet  having  had  time  to  become 
fully  American.  But  we  may  go  farther,  and  say^that  no  such  renun- 
ciation of  the  German  order  of  thinking,  if  it  were  even  possible  in 
such  a  case,  would  be  either  desirable  or  proper.  He  had  no  reason 
certainly  to  anticipate,  that,  in  coming  to  this  country,  he  would  be 
required  to  divest  himself  of  his  old  life,  and  become  absolutely  re - 
constructed,  as  a  preliminary  condition  to  all  right  activity  in  his  new 
sphere.  And  the  Church  never  intended  certainly  to  insist  on  any 
such  conditions.  Why  call  a  professor  from  Germany,  if  all  that  is 
German  in  the  man  is  to  be  left  behind,  or  as  soon  as  possible  for- 
irotten  1  Is  he  to  receive  all  from  those  to  whom  he  comes,  and  bring 
to  them  nothing  of  his  own  '\  Must  he  denationalize  himself,  lay 
aside  his  own  nationality  as  barbarous  and  false  ;  and  not  rather  seek 
to  make  it  available,  as  far  as  it  may  have  value,  for  the  improvement 


of  the  new  life  which  has  received  him  into  its  bosom  1  These 
questions  it  might  seem  hardly  necessary  to  ask.  And  yet  it  is  possi- 
ble, that  some  may  be  disposed  after  all  to  find  fault  with  the  present 
work  as  too  German;  just  as  if  in  the  circumstances,  it  either  could 
have  been,  or  should  have  been,  in  the  fullest  sense  "Native  Ameri- 
can."* 


*  The  case  of  Professor  Schaipfhas  been  somewhat  singular.  No 
man  could  well  be  more  thoroughly  German,  in  his  whole  con- 
stitution and  character.  Perhaps  no  one  has  ever  come  into  the 
country,  with  more  zeal  for  the  consecration  and  advancement 
of  all  properly  German  interests  as  such.  And  yet,  strange  to 
tell,  no  foreigner  has  ever  before  encountered  among  us,  within 
the  same  time,  such  a  tide  of  reproach  from  his  own  country- 
men, on  the  charge  of  being  untrue  to  the  honor  of  his  nation. 
Within  three  months  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  upon  our 
shores,  a  perfect  whirlwind  of  excitement  may  be  said  to  have  been 
raised  against  him,  among  the  foreign  German  population,  from 
one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other  ;  which  has  only  of  late  begun 
to  subside,  in  the  way  of  sheer  self-exhaustion  ;  for  even  whirl- 
winds, if  they  are  let  alone,  must  in  the  end  blow  themselves  to 
rest.  The  occasion  of  the  uproar  was  a  sermon  preached  by 
Professor  Schaf,  in  connection  with  his  ordination  at  Elberfeld, 
in  Prussia,  just  before  he  came  to  America  ;  with  reference 
particularly  to  the  moral  desolations  of  the  field,  in  which  he 
was  called  to  labor,.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  dark  side  of 
the  subject  was  brought  into  view,  especially  as  constituted  by 
the  character  to  some  extent  of  the  emigration  itself  from  Ger- 
many to  America ;  including,  as  it  was  known  to  do,  in  connec- 
tion with  much  good,  a  large  portion  also  of  very  diflferent  ma- 
terial. Various  classes  in  particular  were  described,  who  might 
be  said  to  have  left  their  country  for  their  country's  good,  car- 
rying with  them  to  the  new  world  dispositions  and  tendencies 
unfriendly  to  all  right  order  in  the  State  and  all  true  religion  in 
the  Church.  The  sermon  was  afterwards  translated  and  pub- 
lished in  this  country.  In  this  form,  it  fell  under  the  eye  of 
some,  who  immediately  set  themselves  at  work  to  turn  it  to 
mischief.  A  single  paragraph  was  retranslated  into  German, 
and  sent  thus  to  circulate  through  the  political  German  prints  of 
the  land,  without  the  least  regard  to  its  original  connections, 
with  such  inflammatory  comments  as  malignant  passion  was 
pleased  to  invent.  Various  communications  appeared  at  dif- 
ferent points,  intended  to  rouse,  if  possible,  general  indignation.. 
The  author  of  the  sermon,  it  was  said,  had  slandered  and  vili- 
fied the  whole  German  emigration  ;  betrayed  his  country  ;  soldi 
himself  to  the  service  of  the  Native  American  party  ;  and  de-  • 
served  properly  to  be  tarred  and  feathered,  or  drummed  out  of 
the.  land,  as  noteworthy  to  enjoy  its  free  air, .  The  German i 

If 


Some  indeed  seem  to  have  the  idea,  that  whatever  is  characteristical- 
ly German,  must  be  theologically  bad.  Especially  the  philosophy  of 
Germany  is  regarded  as  almost  universally  either  infidel  or  absurd,  and 
incapable  altogether  of  being  turned  to  any  serviceable  account  in 
connection  with  religion.  Now  I  would  be  sorry  to  appear  as  the 
apologist  of  either  the  German  philosophy  or  the  German  theology  as 
a  whole.  Few  probably  have  been  exercised  with  more  solemn  fears 
than  myself,  in  this  very  direction.  One  thing  however  is  most  cer-.. 
tain.  The  zeal  affected  by  a  large  class  of  persons  in  this  country 
against  German  thinking,  is  not  according  to  knowledge.  A  judgment 
which  is  based,  in  any  such  case,  on  the  assumption,  that  there  is 
nothing  defective  or  onesided  in  the  system  of  thought  and  life  out  of 
which  it  has  itself  sprung  ;  especially  if  it  proceed  from  such  as  show 
palpably   that  they  have  never  been  able  to  transcend  that  system  in 


mind  is  vastly  excitable,  and  not  particularly  noted  foi  its  mod- 
eration when  under  excitement.  It  was  soon  thrown  accor-: 
dingly  into  a  perfect  tempest  of  commotion,  through  the  whole 
length  and  breadth  of  the  United  States.  The  name  of  Dr. 
Schaf  was  at  once  made  famous,  in  every  direction.  Within 
the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  as  many  perhaps  as  thirty  different 
papers  were  poured  in  upon  him,,  to  let  him  know  how  heartily 
he  was  hated. and  cursed.  Indignation  meetings  were  held  at  a 
number  of  places,  at  which  valorous  speeches,  and  still  more 
valorous  resplutions,  were  exploded,  in  vindication  of  the  Ger- 
man honor.  All  thjs  on  the  part  of  a  vast  body  of  people,  not 
one  of  whom  probably  had  ever  seen  the  original  sermon  of 
Professor  vSchaf,  as  published  in  Krummacher's  PalmbliBtter, 
not  one  in  a  thousand  of  whom  probably  had  ever  seen  the 
translation  of  it,  as  published  in  the  Weekly  Messenger  ;  and  of 
whose  whole  number,  not  one  of  a  hundred  perhaps  could  say 
when,  where,  or  how  the  offense  had  occurred,  with  which 
they  were  called  to  be  so  terribly  displeased.  In  fact,  however, 
the  movement  is  to  be  referred  to  a  much  deeper  ground.  The 
whole  occasion  has  served,  beyond  any  previous  development, 
to  reveal  the  true  character  of  the  foreign  German  population  in 
our  country.  This  is  reckoned  to  be  now  more  than  a  million, 
perhaps  a  million  and  a  half  strong,  and  is  rapidly  increasing 
every  year.  Beyond  all  doubt,  it  includes  a  large  amount  of 
virtuous  and  excellent  character.  At  the  same  time,  it  has 
been  equally  certain  all  along,  that  elements  of  an  intidel, 
disorganizing  order,  have  been  comprehended  in  it  to  a  serious 
extent.  But  no  demonstration  has  before  occurred  so  well 
suited  as  the  one  now  in  view,  to  set  the  matter  in  its  true 
light,  and  to  awaken  apprehension  in  the  direction  here  noticed. 
Because  it  has, been  abundantly  evident  to  all  wh.o  have  been  ih, 


its  traditional  form  at  a  single  point,  and  who  may  be  possibly  alto-, 
gether  ignorant  besides  even  of  the  language  which  includes  the 
foreign  mind  they  presume  to  charge  with  folly;  a  judgment  so  cir- 
cumstanced, I  say,  can  never  be  entitled  to  much  respect.  It  is  an 
immense  mistake,  to  assume  that  the  Anglo-American  order  of  religious 
life  is  all  right,  and  the  German  life  in  the  same  respect  all  wrong. 
Both  forrns  of  existence  include  qualities  of  the  highest  value,  with 
corresponding  defects  and  false  tendencies.  "What  is  needed  is  a 
judicious  union  of  both,  in  whicji  the  true  and,  good  on  either  side 
shall  find  its  proper  supplement  in  the  true  and  good  of  the  other,  and 
onesided  extremes  stand  mutually  corrected  and  reciprocally  restrained. 
Realism  and  Idealism,  practice  and  theory,  are  both,  separately  taken, 
unsound  and  untrue^  Their  truth  holds,  can  hold  only  in  their  un-ion. 
We  are  a  practical  people  pre-eminently,  and  are  entitled  to  great  credit 


a  situation  to  understand  the  case,  that  the  uproar  which  it  has 
been  contrived  to  create  against  Professor  Schaf,  is  attributable 
properly   not  to   an  honest  zeal  for  the  credit  of  the  German 
name  as   such,  but  to   a  secret  hostility  to  the  religious  views 
and  principles  of  which  he  is  considered  a  distinguished  repre- 
sentative.    At  the  bottom   of  the  whole  movement  is  to  be. 
traced  distinctly,  the  spirit  of  political  libertinism  and  intolerapt 
rationalistic    fanaticism  ;    answering    too    truly    to    a  part  of 
the   sketch  presented  in  the  Elberfeld  sermon,  and  lending  it 
light  and  confirmation  beyond  all  that  could  have  been  antici- 
pated  in  the   same  form  previously.     The  active  part  taken  in  , 
the  business  by  certain  rationalist  ministers,   serves   only   of 
course  to  establish  this  charge.     The  papers  which  have  been 
making  a  noise  in  the  case,  reveal  their  irreligious  character  in 
general  with  very  little  disguise ;  and  the  same  thing  may  be 
said  of  the  proceedings  of  the  indignation  meetings.  °In  some 
instances,  the  displays  of  rationalism  have  been  carried  to  the 
point  of  downright  blasphemy.     One  sheet  in  New  York  has 
shown  itself  particularly   vile  and   abominable  in    this    w^ay. 
Altogether  the  movement  has  been  carried  forward  in  the  most 
low  and  ribald  style.     It  has  however  served  one  important 
purpose,  in  the  case  of  Professor  Schaf,  besides. revealing  more 
than  had  been  revealed  before  of  the  spirit  of  this  section  of  our 
foreign  population.     It  has  shown  clearly,  in  how  little  sympa- 
thy he  stands  with  the  Rationalism  and  Radicalism  with  which 
we  are  so  unfortunately  invaded  from  abroad.     From  no  quarter 
has  he  been  so  immediately  and  violently  repelled,  as  with  an,, 
instinctive  consciousness  of  irreconcilable  opposition.     This  in 
the  circumstances  must  be  counted  a  high  advantage  ;  one  of 
the  greatest  recommendations  in  fact,   under  which  a  learned. 
Qerinan  divine  could  make  his  appearance  in  our  countryo 


8 

on  this  account.  But  it  is  in  vain -to  expect  that  in  this  character 
simply  we  shall  be  able  to  do  our  duty  to  the  world  or  to  the  Cliurch 
of  Christ.  All  great  epochs  in  the  world's  development  after  all,  owe 
iheir  presence  primarily  to  theory  and  speculation.  Our  religious  life 
and  practice  can  be  sound  and  strong,  only  in  connection  with  a  living, 
vigorous  theology.  But  to  be  thus  living  and  vigorous,  our  theology 
must  be  more  than  traditional.  It  must  keep  pace  with  the  onward 
course  of  human  thought,  subduing  it  always  with  renewed  victory  to 
its  own  power.  Not  by  ignoring  the  power  of  error,  or  fulminating 
upon  it  blind  ecclesiastical  anathemas,  can  theology  be  saved  from 
death  ;  but  only  by  meeting  and  overcoming  it  in  the  strength  of  the 
Lord.  Now  this  requires,  in  our  day,  a  legitimate  regard  in  this  form 
to  the  errors  of  Germany  in  particular..  For  it  is  preposterous  to  sup- 
pose, that  in  the  most  speculative  portion  of  the  whole  Christian  world, 
these  errors  stand  in  no  connection  with  the  general  movement  of  the 
world's  mind,^or  that  they  do  not  need  to  be  surmounted  by  a  fresh  ad- 
vance on  the  part  of  truth,  as  being  only  the  dead  repetition  of  previous- 
ly vanquished  falsehood.  In  immediate  contact  with  the  evil,  the 
friends  of  religion  in  Germany  itself  know  the  case  to  be  different. . 
There  it  is  felt,  that  theology  must  advance  so  as  fairly  to  conquer,  or 
die.  We  may  not  feel  the  pressure  of  the  same  necessity.  But  this  is 
no  evidence,  that  we  stand  on  higher  or  surer  ground.  In  the  end,, 
our  theology,  to  be  worth  anything  as  a  science,  must  be  carried  over 
this  limitation.  It  may  not  devolve  on  us  possibly  to  achieve  the  work 
for  ourselves.  We  may  trust  rather  that  this  precisely  is  the  special 
commission  ofthe  Church  in  Germany  itself,  the  land  of  Luther  and  the 
glorious  Reformation.  Certainly  at  this  very  time,  the  struggle  with 
error  may  be  regarded  as  most  auspicious  and  full  of  promise.  And  if. 
there  be  one  country  in  the  whole  compass  of  the  Church,  where  at 
this  moment  orthodox  theology  is  not  dead,  but  full  of  life  and  spirit 
and  power,  that  country  is  Germany.  We  may  hope  then  it  will  be 
found  sufficient  for  its  own  work.  This  however  when  accomplished, 
must  be  viewed  as  a  work  properly  for  the  whole  Christian  world ;  and 
we  owe  it  to  ourselves  at  least,  to  be  willing  to  take  advantage  of  it  in 
its  progress,  and  to  employ  it  for  the  improvement  of  our  own  position, . 
if.it  can  be  so  used. 

Thus  much  I  have  thought  it  proper  to  say  on  this  point,  merely  to 
oouateract,  if.  possible,  the  poor  prejudice,  that  some  may  feel  toward^} . 


the  present  work,  simply  because  of  its  German  source  and  German 
complexion  ;  as  it  all  must  needs  be  either  rationalistic  or  transcen- 
dental, that  breathes  a  thought  in  common  with  Hegel,  or  owns  a 
feeling  in  sympathy  with  the  gifted,  noble  Schleiermacher. 

But  after  all,,  the  work  stands  in  no  special  need  of  apology  in  this 
direction.  It  is  more  likely  to  be  met  with  distrust,  in  certain  quarters, 
under  a  different  view.  It  may  seem  to  occupy  suspicious  ground, 
with  regard  to  the  Church  question.  With  the  argument  for  Protes- 
tantism, in  the  first  part,  in  its  positive,  separate  character,  even  the 
most  rigid  in  their  zeal  for  this  interest,  can  hardly  fail  to  be  generally 
satisfied.  But  some  may  not  like  the  relations  in  which  it  is  made  to 
stand,  nor  the  consequences  it  is  made  to  involve.  And  then  they  are 
still  less  likely  of  course  to  be  pleased,  with  the  formal  development  of 
these  consequences  in  the  part  that  follows.  They  may  think  that  too 
much  is  surrendered,  in  the  controversy  with  Oxford  and  Rome.  They 
may  not  be  willing  to  endure,  that  the  nakedness  of  Protestantism,  in 
its  modern  position,  should  be  so  freely  exposed.  It  is  always  dif- 
ficult, in  the  case  of  earnest,  violent  controversy,  to  have  an  eye  for 
anything  less  than  extremes.  All  must  be  right  in  one  direction,  and 
all  must  be  wrong  in  the  other  ;  although  in  fact,  no  great  controversy 
in  the  Church  is  ever  precisely  of  this  character.  So  at  this  time,  the 
excitement  which  prevails  on  the  subject  of  Popery  and  Puseyism,  and 
for  which  undoubtedly  there  is  good  reason,  must  naturally  render  it 
hard  for  many,  to  exercise  any  moderate  judgment  upon  questions  that 
lie  in  this  direction.  In  such  circumstances  then  particularly,  there  is 
some  danger  that  the  present  publication  may  not  escape  censure,  in 
the  view  already  mentioned. 

This  much  however  is  certain,  at  the  same  time.  The  work  will 
not  be  regarded  by  puseyites  and  papists  as  a  plea  in  their  favor.  Ra- 
ther, if  I  am  not  much  mistaken,  it  will  be  felt  by  them,  so  far  as  it 
may  come  under  their  observation,  to  be  one  of  the  most  weighty  and 
effective  arguments  they  have  yet  been  called  to  encounter,  in  this, 
country,  in  opposition  to  their  cause.  For  it  is  not  to  be  disguised,, 
that  a  great  deal  of  the  war  which  is  now  carried  on  in  this  direction, 
is  as  little  adapted  to  make  any  impression  on  the  enemy,  as  a  battery 
of-  popguns  in  continual  fire.  Instead  of  being  alarmed  or  troubled  on  its 
account,  the  enemy  is  no  doubt  pleased  with,  it  at  heart.     Nothing  can 


10 

be  more  vain  than  to  imagine,  that  a  blind  and  indiscriminate  warfare 
here  can  lead  to  any  true  and  lasting  advantage.  Not  with  circum" 
stances  and  accidents  simply  must  the  controversy  grapple,  but  with 
principles  in  their  inmost  life,  to  reach  any  result.  The  present  ar- 
gument accordingly,  in  throwing  itself  back  upon  the  true  principle  of 
Protestantism,  with  a  full  acknowledgment  of  the  difficulties  that 
surround  it,  while  proper  pains  are  taken  to  put  them  out  of  the  way, 
may  be  said  to  occupy  the  only  ground,  en  which  any  effectual  stand 
can  be  made  against  the  claims  of  Rome. 

To  contend  successfully  with  any  error,  it  is  all  important  that  we 
should  understand  properly  and  acknowledge  fairly  the  truth  in  which 
it  finds  its  life.  The  polemic  who  assails  such  a  system  as  popery  or 
puseyism  with  the  assumption  that  its  pretensions  are  built  upon  sheer 
wind,  shows  himself  utterly  unfit  for  his  work,  and  must  necessarily 
betray  more  or  less  the  cause  he  has  undertakjen  to  defend.  All  error 
of  this  sort  involves  truth,  apprehended  in  a  onesided  and  extreme 
way,  with  the  sacrifice  of  truth  in  the  opposite  direction.  Hence  a 
purely  negative  opposition  to  it,  bent  simply  on  the  destruction  of  the 
system  as  a  whole,  must  itself  also  become  inevitably  onesided  and 
false,  and  can  only  serve  so  far  to  justify  and  sustain  what  it  labors  to 
overthrow.  Romanism  includes  generally  some  vast  truth  in  every  one 
of  its  vast  errors  ;  and  no  one  is  prepared  to  make  war  upon  the  error, 
who  has  not  felt,  in  his  inmost  soul,  the  authority  of  its  imprisoned 
truth,  and  who  is  not  concerned  to  rescue  and  save  this,,  while  the  pris- 
on itself  is  torn  to  the  ground.  In  this  view,  no  respect  is  due  to  an 
infidel  or  godless  zeal,  when  it  ma}^  happen  to  be  turned  in  this  direc- 
tion ;  and  that  must  be  counted  always  a  spurious  religious  zeal,  which 
can  suffer  itself  to  be  drawn  into  communion  with  such  an  irreligious 
element,  simply  because  for  the  moment  jt  has  become  excited  against 
Rome.  It  is  greatly  to  be  feared,  that  the  spirit  into  which  some  are 
betrayed  in  this  way  is  unhallowed  and  profane,  even  where  they  take 
to  themselves  the  credit  of  the  most  active  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God. 
80  with  regard  to  puseyism.  Nothing  can  well  be  more  shallow,  than 
the  convenient  imagination  that  the  system  is  simply  a  religious  mon- 
strosity, engrafted  on  the  body  of  the  Church  from  without,  and  calling 
only  for  a  wholesale  amputation  to  effect  a  cure.  Such  a  supposition 
is  contradicted,  to  every  intelligent  mind,  by  the  history  of  the  system 
itself.     No  new  phase  of  religion  could  so  spread  and  prevail  as  this  . 


11 

has  done,  within  so  short  a  period  of  time,  if  it  did  not  embody  in  itself, 
along  with  all  its  errors,  the  moving  force  of  some  mighty  truth,  whose 
rights  needed  to  be  asserted,  and  the  want  of  which  had  come  to  be  felt  in 
the  living  consciousness  of  the  Churcli,  vastly  farther  than  it  was  clearly 
understood.  If  the  evils  against  which  the  system  protests  were  pure- 
ly imaginary,  it  could  never  have  acquired  so  solid  a  character  itself,  as 
it  has  done  in  fact.  Most  assuredly  the  case  is  one,  that  calls  for  some- 
thing more  than  a  merely  negative  and  destructive  opposition.  Only 
by  acknowledging  and  honoring  that  which  is  true  and  good  in  the 
movement,  is  it  possible  to  come  to  any  right  issue  with  it  so  far  as  it 
is  false.  The  truth  which  it  includes  must  be  reconciled  with  the 
truth  it  rejects,  in  a  position  more  advanced  than  its  ov/n,  before  it  can 
be  said  to  be  fairly  overcome.  In  this  view,  it  is  not  saying  too  much 
to  affirm,  that  a  large  part  of  the  controversy  directed  against  it  thus 
far,  has  been  of  very  little  force.  It  has  been  too  blind  and  undiscrim- 
inating,  as  onesidedly  false  in  its  own  direction  at  times,  as  the  error 
it  has  opposed  in  the  other.  Our  newspapers,  and  reviews,  and 
pamphlets  and  books,  show  too  often,  that  the  question  is  only  half 
understood  by  those  who  undertake  to  settle  its  merits.  While  they 
valiantly  defend  the  citadel  of  Protestantism  at  one  point,  they 
leave  it  miserably  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  its  enemies  at  another. 
With  many  it  might  seem  to  be  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world,  to  de- 
molish the  pretensions  of  this  High  Church  system.  Its  theory  of  the 
Church  is  taken  to  be  a  sheer  figment ;  its  idea  of  the  sacraments,  a 
baseless  absurdity  ;  its  reverence  for  forms,  a  senseless  superstition. 
The  possibility  of  going  wrong  in  the  opposite  direction,  is  not  appre- 
hended at  all.  Such  a  posture  however  with  regard  to  the  subject,  is 
itseli  prima  facie  evidence  that  those  who  occupy  it,  are  not  competent 
to  do  justice  to  the  case. 

Some  have  told  us,  that  the  controversy  comes  simply  to  this, 
-whether  we  shall  have  a  religion  of  forms,  or  a  religion  of  the  spirit. 
They  claim  accordingly  to  be  the  friends  of  inward,  living,  practical 
piety,  and  charge  upon  the  opposite  tendency  a  secret  disaffection  to 
this  great  interest,  as  exalting  the  letter  above  the  life,  and  substitu- 
ting for  the  fact  its  mere  sign.  But  the  issue  in  this  form  is  false. 
Religion  is  the  union  of  soul  and  body,  spirit  and  matter.  To  resolve 
it  into  naked  forms,  is  indeed  to  part  with  the  substance  for  mere 
show  ;  but  it  is  just  as  vain  to  think  of  holding  the  substance,  where 


12 

forms  are  treated  with  contempt.  The  man  who  takes  the  issue  in  the 
way  now  stated,  shows  himself  to  be  disqualified  for  the  controversy. 
Because  it  is  not  a  question  with  him  then  simply  as  to  the  quality  or 
quantity  of  forms  ;  whence  they  shall  come  and  how  far  they  shall 
reach  ;  but  a  question  as  to  the  right  forms  have  to  be  included  in  the 
idea  of  religion  at  all  ;  in  the  case  of  which  he  shows  clearly,  that  his 
own  conception  of  the  true  nature  of  religion  is  onesided  and  false. 
He  will  be  a  spiritualist  only,  and  not  a  formalist.  Why  not  then  be- 
come at  once  a  Quaker  1  In  its  own  nature,  the  issue  is  false.  No 
such  alternative  as  it  supposes,  has  any  place  in  the  idea  of  religion. 
It  separates  what  God  has  joined  together.  Not  soul  or  body,  but  soul 
and  body,  is  the  formula  that  represents  humanity,  as  truly  after  its 
union  with  Christ  as  before.  The  issue  is  false,  monstrously  false  ;  and 
the  champion  who  takes  ground  upon  it,  is  not  fit  to  be  entrusted  with 
the  interests  of  truth,  in  opposition  to  Oxford  or  in  any  other  direction. 

Again  we  are  told  the  controversy  has  for  its  object  the  question, 
whether  salvation  be  an  individual  concern  or  something  that  comes 
wholly  by  the  Church;  the  fruit  of  a  private,  separate  transaction  of 
the  subject  with  God's  word  and  Spirit,  or  the  product  of  a  more  com- 
prehensive, inexplicable  force,  residing  in  the  mystical  body  of  Christ, 
and  showing  itself  particularly  in  and  through  the  sacraments.  But 
here  again  the  issue  is  false,  and  those  who  plant  themselves  upon  it, 
only  betray  their  own  incompetency  for  intermeddling  with  the  subject. 
Ecclesiasticism,  as  held  by  Rome  and  also  by  Oxford,  is  indeed  a 
terrible  error  ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  the  mere  negation  of  ecclesias- 
ticism is  the  truth.  The  error  itself  includes  a  truth  ;  a  vast,  great, 
precious,  glorious  truth  ;  and  if  our  negation  annihilate  this  along 
with  the  error,  it  has  become  itself  an  error  as  false  as  the  other.  The 
position  that  religion  is  an  individual  interest,  a  strictly  personal  concern, 
a  question  between  a  man  singly  and  his  maker,  is  one  which  it  would 
be  treason  to  the  gospel  to  reject.  He  that  believeth  shall  be  saved  ; 
he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned.  Every  tree  that  bareth  not 
good  fruit,  is  hewn  down  and  cast  into  the  fire.  Here  is  a  vast,  vital 
tmth.  But  if  it  be  so  held  as  to  exclude  the  dependence  of  the  indivi- 
dual spiritual  life,  on  the  general  life  of  the  Church,  it  becomes  ne- 
cessarily onesided  and  false.  Individualism  without  the  Church,  is 
as  little  to  be  trusted  as  ecclesiasticism  without  individual  experience. 
Both  separately  taken  are  false,  or  the  truth  only  in  a  onesided  way  ; 


13 

and  the  falsehood,  sooner  or  later,  must  make  itself  practically  felt. 
The  full  truth  is  the  union  of  the  two.  Every  issue  then  which  puts 
them  apart,  must  be  counted  an  untrue  issue  ;  and  as  before  said,  the 
very  fact  that  any  man  should  make  it,  in  contending  with  popery  or 
puseyism,  proves  him  unfit  for  the  task  he  has  been  pleased  to  assume. 

So  again  when  the  controversy  is  made  to  lie  between  the  liberty  of 
private  judgment  and  the  authority  of  the  Church,  the  issue  is  equally 
false.  And  the  matter  is  not  mended  at  all,  but  yonly  made  worse^ 
when  the  alternative  is  exhibited  as  holding  between  the  Bible  and  the 
Church.  It  is  indeed  an  abominable  usurpation,  when  the  Church 
claims  to  be  the  source  of  truth  for  the  single  christian  separately  from 
the  bible,  or  the  absolutely  infalHble  interpreter  of  the  sense  of  the 
bible  itself;  and  so  requires  him  to  yield  his  judgment  blindly  to  her 
authority  and  tradition.  But  it  is  a  presumption  equally  abominable, 
for  a  single  individual  to  .cast  off  all  respect  for  Church  authority  and 
Church  life,  and  pretend  to  draw  his  faith  immediately  from  the  bible, 
only  and  wholly  through  the  narrow  pipe-stem  of  his  own  private 
judgment.  No  one  does  so  in  fact.  Our  most  bald,  abstract  sects 
even,  show  themselves  here  as  much  under  authority  almost  as  papists 
themselves.  Where  shall  we  find  a  greater  traditionist  than  the 
Scotch  Seceder  ?  Who  less  free  ordinarily  in  the  exercise  of  what  he 
calls  his  private  judgment,  upon  the  sense  of  scripture  1  His  ecclesias- 
tico-theological  system,  as  handed  down  by  his  Church,  or  fraction  of 
a  Church,  sways  his  interpretation  at  every  point.  Such  a  thing  as  an 
absolutely  abstract  private  judgment  we  meet  with  in  no  denomination, 
party,  or  sect.  But  if  we  had  it,  what  would  it  be  worth  1  Or  so  far 
as  we  [find  anything  hke  au  approximation  to  it,  to  what  honor  or  con- 
fidence is  it  entitled  ]  For  at  the  last,  what  sort  of  comparison  can 
there  be  between  the  naked  judgment  of  a  single  individual  and  the 
general  voice  of  the  Church  ?  The  argument  from  prescription  here^ 
is  one  which  no  spiritually  sane  mind  can  despise.  We  employ  it 
with  overwhelming  force  against  the  Anti-trinitarian,  the  Anti-pedo- 
baptist,  the  Anti-sacramental  Quaker,  and  the  whole  host  of  fanatical 
upstarts  who  modestly  undertake  to  make  the  world  believe,  that  the 
City  of  God  has  been  buried  for  eighteen  centuries  like  Herculaneum 
and  Pompeii,  and  is  now  to  be  dug  out  of  the  scriptures  for  the  first 
time  by  such  as  themselves.     Even  the  theories  of  a  learned  man  are 


14 

deservedly  borne  down  by  the  weight  of  this  authority;  clothed  in  such 
a  form,  for  instance,  as  it  carries  in  opposition  to  the  fancy  of  Prof. 
]3ush,  when  he  tries  to  persuade  us  that  the  resurrection  of  believers 
takes  placeat  their  death.  The  private  judgment  of  a  Grotius,  as  such, 
is  a  small  thing  as  compared  with  the  judgment  of  the  Church.  But 
we  are  told,  the  issue  is  properly,  not  between  a  Grotius  or  a  George 
Fox  and  the  Church,  but  between  the  Bible  and  the  Church,  evangel- 
ism and  ecclesiasticism.  As  if  the  bible  could  interpret  itself,  with- 
out the  intervention  of  a  human  judgment,  cither  public  or  private  ! 
There  is  gross  so^:histry  in  the  alternative,  as  thus  presented.  In  any 
true  statement  of  the  case,  neither  the  judgment  of  the  Church  nor 
that  of  the  individual,  is  to  be  exhibited  as  a  professedly  separate 
source  of  truth,  Romanism  and  Rationalism,  in  this  view,  fall  here  in 
opposite  directions  under  the  same  condemnation.  The  only  fair  al- 
ternative lies  between  the  bible  as  apprehended  by  the  Church,  and 
the  same  bible  as  apprehended  by  an  individual,  or  by  some  party  or 
sect  to  which  he  may  happen  to  belong.  Shall  the  Church  interpret 
the  bible  for  the  single  believer,  or  shall  he  interpret  it  for  himself  ? 
The  question  comes  at  last  to  this.  But  the  issue,  in  such  form,  is 
false.  Neither  side  of  the  alternative  separately  taken  is  true;  and 
yet  neither  is  absolutely  untrue.  The  Church  may  err;  and  every 
man  is  bound  to  exercise  his  own  reason,  in  things  pertaining  to  his 
salvation.  But  still  the  Church  is  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth. 
The  bible  lives  and  has  power  as  God's  word,  only  in  and  by  the 
Church,  the  body  of  Christ.  It  is  most  certain  then,  that  private  judg- 
ment, extrinsical  to  all  felt  communion  with  the  life  of  the  Church,  as 
a  continuation  through  all  centuries  of  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  is 
entitled  to  no  confidence  whatever.  Private  judgment,  or  if  any  one 
please,  the  use  of  the  bible  in  this  form,  is  a  sacred  right,  to  be  parted 
with  for  no  price  by  those  whom  tlie  truth  has  made  free  ;  but  it  can 
hold  only  in  the  element  of  true  Church  authority.  In  proportion 
precisely  as  the  sense  of  that  general  life  which  has  constituted  the 
unity  of  the  Church  from  the  beginning,  is  found  to  be  wanting  in  any 
individual  ;  in  proportion  precisely  as  it  is  possible  for  him  to  abjure 
all  respect  for  the  organic  whole,  in  virtue  of  which  only  he  can  have 
any  life  as  a  part ;  in  proportion  precisely  as  he  is  ruled  by  the  feeling, 
that  the  bible  is  to  be  interpreted,  as  a  revelation  just  fallen  from 
heaven,  without  any  legard  to  the  development  of  its  contents,  the 


15 

stream  of  its  living  waters,  as  carried  forward  in  the  faith  of  Christen- 
dom, from  the  beginning  down  to  the  present  time  ;  in  the  same  propor- 
tion I  say  precisely,  must  such  an  individual,  be  his  qualifications  and 
resources  in  other  respects  what  they  may,  be  counted  an  unsafe  ex- 
pounder of  God's  word,  either  for  himself  or  for  others.  The  bible 
mirrored  from  his  mere  private  judgment,  as  thus  sundered  from  all 
proper  Church  consciousness^,  is  likely  to  reveal  but  little  of  the  mind  of 
the  Spirit.  The  issae  then  as  made  between  the  Bible  and  the  Church, 
is  false  and  sophistical  ;  and  the  polemic  who  takes  ground  upon  it  as 
though  it  were  of  any  real  force,  only  shows  himself  again  unequal  to 
the  wants  of  this  great  controversy. 

The  case  requires  a  reconciliation  of  these  unhappily  divided  inter- 
ests, in  such  form  that  the  truth  which  each  includes  may  be  saved  in 
the  union  of  both.  This  of  course  is  not  to  be  reached,  by  yielding  to 
Rome.  The  very  nature  of  the  papacy  is  that  it  sacrifices  the  rights  of 
the  individual  wholly  to  the  authority  of  the  Church,  which  so  far  at 
the  same  time  becomes  itself  false  and  dead.  Puseyism  is  but  a  re- 
turn towards  the  same  error.  We  need  not  this.  But  as  little  may 
we  feel  ourselves  abidingly  satisfied,  with  the  mere  contrary.  What  is 
to  be  reached  after,  as  the  true  normal  form  of  the  Christian  life,  is 
such  an  inward  marriage  of  the  two  general  tendencies,  as  shall  be 
sufficient  to  make  them  one.  There  is  no  reason  at  all  why  zeal  for 
experimental  godliness,  and  zeal  for  the  idea  of  the  Church,  should  not 
go  hand  in  hand  together.  The  single  case  of  Paul,  to  say  nothing  of 
Augustine,  and  Anselra,  and  Luther,  and  many  others  that  might  be 
named,  may  furnish  full  proof  to  the  contrary.  Who  more  zealous  for 
all  that  is  comprehended  in  the  personal  piety  and  personal  freedom  of^ 
the  single  believer  1  And  yet  who  more  carried  away  and  ruled  con- 
tinually by  the  idea  of  the  Church,  as  the  body  of  Christ,  and  the 
organic  whole  in  which  and  by  which  alone  all  individual  Christian 
vitality  must  be  upheld  and  carried  forvvard  to  its  proper  perfection  1 
This  is  the  only  form  in  which  religion  can  deserve  to  be  considered 
complete.  This  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  true  consummation  of  the 
Clmrch,  in  which  the  life  of  the  whole  body  and  the  life  of  all  its  parts, 
may  be  expected  to  proceed  harmoniously  and  vigorously  together. 
Towards  the  full  and  final  accomplishment  of  this  glorious  result, 
should  be  directed  the  prayers  and  efforts  of  all,  who  love  the  prosperity 
QfZioaor  seek  the  salvation  of  the  world. 


16 

Or  will  it  be  seriously  pretended  by  any,  competent  to  discern  the 
signs  of  the  time,  that  the  state  of  the  Church  at  present  involves  no^ 
necessity,  for  looking  or  reaching  after  any  such  new  position  ]  Is  all 
that  is  wanted,  for  the  great  ends  of  the  gospel,  that  is  for  the  actuali- 
zation in  full  of  the  idea  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  world,  the  sim- 
ple annihilation  of  all  the  elements  and  tendencies  embraced  in  the  ob- 
jective Church  system  as  such,  and  the  undisputed  supremacy  of  the 
opposite  subjective  interest,  in  the  form  in  which  it  now  prevails  in  the 
Protestant  world?  Can  we  say  of  Protestantism,  that,  as  it  now  stands, 
it  forms  the  true,  complete,  symmetrical,  and  ultimate  state  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  or  that  this  requires  at  most,  only  that  its  existing  tendencies 
should  be  carried  out  still  farther  in  the  same  direction  ]  They  must  be 
dull  of  vision  truly,  who  can  impose  upon  themselves  so  far  as  this. 
Vast  evils,  and  tendencies  that  must,  if  carried  out,  inevitably  defeat 
the  whole  movement,  are  palpa,bly  incorporated  at  this  time  with  its 
very  constitution.  These  must  be  acknowledged  and  put  away,  before 
it  can  be  expected  to  prevail.  Taking  the  present  state  of  Protestan- 
tism as  ultimate  and  complete,  we  must  despair  of  its  being  able  to 
stand  against  its  enemies.  Our  faith  in  its  divine  mission  can  be  in- 
telligent, only  as.  we  confidently  trust  that  it  will  yet  in  due  time  sur- 
mount its  own  present  position,  and  stand  forth  redeemed,  and  disen- 
thralled from  the  evils  that  now  oppress  it,  to  complete  the  Reformation 
so  auspiciously  begun  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  necessity  of  some 
such  new  order  of  things  is  coming  to  be  more  and  more  sensibly  felt ; 
and  may  we  not  trust,  that  the  way  for  it  is  fast  being  prepared,  though 
to  our  narrow  viev/,  chaotically  still  and  without  light,  in  the  ever 
deepening  and  extending  agitation,  with  which  men's  minds  are  be- 
ginning to  be  moved,  as  it  might  seem  all  the  world  over,  in  this  direc- 
tion. The  feeling  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  some  vast  religious  revo- 
lution, by  which  a  new  epoch  shall  be  constituted  in  the  development 
of  the  history  of  the  Church  as  a  whole,  has  taken  strong  possession 
of  many  of  the  first  minds  in  Europe.  And  it  is  quite  evident  that  in 
this  country  too,  a  sentiment  of  the  same  general  sort  is  steadily  gain- 
ing ground.  Men  feel  that  they  have  no  right  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
actual  state  of  the  Church,  and  they  are  not  satisfied  with  it  in  fact*. 

That  there  is  reason  in  these  circumstances  for  looking  with  appre- 
hension towards  popery,  particularly  in  these  United  States,  is  not  to 
be  doubted."  Both  the  author  and  translator  of  the  present  work,  partici- 


17 

pate  in-  this  apprehension,  to  a  greater  extent  probably  than  most  of 
those,  who  may  be  ready  to  exclaim  against  it  as  treasonable  to  the 
Protestant  interest.  The  danger  however  is  of  a  much  deeper  kind, 
than  is  often  imagined.  It  lies  principally  in  the  fact,  that  we  have 
come  to  such  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  religion  as  has  just  been  men- 
tioned ;  involving  for  the  moment  at  least  a  reaction  in  the  direction  of 
Rome,  and  making  it  necessary  for  the  Protestant  interest  to  advance 
to  a  new  position,  in  order  to  save  itself ;  while  at  the  same  time,  those 
who  stand  forth  in  its  defence  show  themselves  too  generally  ignorant 
of  the  true  posture  of  the  case,  and  not  unfrequently  by  their  blind 
misguided  zeal  only  help  on  in  fact  the  cause  they  oppose.  Meantime 
Romanism,  with  an  instinctive  sense  of  the  importance  and  critical  op- 
portunity of  the  time,  is  putting  forth  vast  policy  and  immense  effort, 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  land.  The  system  is  growing  rapidly. 
It  is  beginning  to  assume  a  bold  and  confident  tone.  All  its 
v/orks  are  on  a  large  scale,  and  all  its  enterprises  are  crowned 
with  success.  No  religious  body  is  advancing  at  the  same  rate. 
Then  it  is  a  united,  well  organized  phalanx,  from  one  end  of  the 
land  to  the  ,  other.  Protestantism,  alas,  is  a  divided  interest.  Most 
assuredly  the  danger  that  threatens  us  on  the  side  of  popery,  lis 
real  and  great.  But  for  this  very  reason  it  is  not  to  be  turned  aside  by 
superficial  declamation,  hard  names,  or  blind  opprobrious  epithetsj 
especially  if  with  all  this  no  corresponding  zeal  be  shown,  to  build  up 
and  clothe  with  strength  the  positive  life  of  Protestantism  itself.  Still 
we  will  hope,  that  the  end  of  all  these  things  is  destined  to  be  different 
from  w^hat  might  seem  to  be  their  tendency  at  this  time.  It  belongs  to 
the  crisis  of  the  age,  that  along  ^with  this  new  impulse  imparted  to 
popery  in  the  way  of  life,  the  same  system  is  itself  made  to  tremble  at 
other  points  with  infirmities  and  disorders  that  threaten  its  very  exis- 
tence. All  this  is  included  in  the  chaotic  struggle,  by  which  the  way 
is  to  be  opened  for  that  new  epoch  which  seems  to  be  at  hand  ;  and 
which,  it  may  be  with  good  assurance  expected,  will  be,  not  a  retro- 
gression of  the  Church  to  papal  bondage,  but  an  advance  by  the  grace 
of  God  to  the  true  standpoint  of  Protestant  Catholicism. 

The  present  state  of  Protestantism  is  only  interimistic.  It  can  save 
itself,  only  by  passing  beyond  itself.  In  this  country  particularly, 
our  sect  system  is  an  evil  that  may  be  said  to  prey  upon  the  very  vitals 
of  the  Church.  The  evil  itself  however  is  but  the  index  of  a  false 
element,  incorporated  with  the  life  of  Protestantism  itself.    The  caso 

2* 


18 

then  is  not  to  be  remedied,  by  any  merely  external  change.  We  are^ 
not  called  to  a  crusade  against  sects  as  they  stand  ;  as  though  by 
storming  them  to  the  ground,  we  could  do  for  Christianity  all  that  is 
needed  in  this  direction.  Only  as  the  sect  principle  can  be  reached 
and  cured  in  the  inward  habit  of  the  Church,  may  any  such  revolution, 
(in  connection  with  the  openings  and  orderings  of  God's  providence,) 
be  expected  to  take  place,  as  the  existing  crisis  demands.  Not  by 
might,  nor  by  power^  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord.  We  are  not  to 
run  before  God,  nor  to  take  his  work  rashly  and  violently  into  our  own 
hands.  All  true  redemption  and  salv;ation,  in  the  case  of  the  Church, 
must  come  in  the  way  of  historical  development,  self-mediated  under 
God,  and  in  a  certain  sense  self-produced.  Still  it  may  not  be  said, 
that  on  this  account  we  are  at  liberty  to  sit  absolutely  still,  inwardly 
as  well  as  outwardly,  passively,  content  with  the  present,  in  the  midst 
of  the  onward  flow  of  the  counsels  of .  the  Almighty.  If  our  present , 
position  be  unsound,  it  is  right  that  we  should  feel  it,  and  lay  it  so- 
lemnly to  heart ;  that  we  may  not  cling  to  the  old  superstitiously,  like 
the  papists  in  the  age  of  the  Reformation,  when  the  fulness  of  time  is 
come  for  the  new.  Though,  we  may  not  be  able  to  see  at  once  how  our 
sect  leprosy  is  to  be  healed,  it  must  be  a  great  evil  still  to  justify  it  a& 
something  compatible  with  good  health,  or  to  acquiesce  in  it  patiently 
as  merely  a  necessary  inconvenience.  What  is  first  of  all  and  most  of 
all  needed,  in  the  circumstances,  as  a  preliminary  to  the  coming  of  a 
more  glorious  Church  epoch,'is  that  the  Protestant  Christian  mind  gen- 
erally should  be  brought  to  see  more  and  more  the  actual  wants  of  the 
time,  and  thus  be  engaged  to  sigh  and  reach  after  the  deliverance, 
which  in  that  case  might  be  supposed  to  be  at  hand. 

Some,  I  know,  have  no  faith  in  this  idea  of  Church  progress,     Ra-. 
ther  they  regard  it,  as  derogatory  to  the  perfect  character  of  the  gospel, 
and  false  to  the  true  unity  of  the  Christian  life.     The  subject  is  one  of, 
great  importance,  and  very  liable  to  be  misapprehended  ;  and  as  the 
light  particularly  in  which  it  has  lately  been  exhibited  by  Professor 
Bush,  in  his  '•^Anastasis'''   or  theory  of  the  resurrection,  cannot  be  re- . 
garded  perhaps  as  exactly  the  most  fortunate,  it  seems  proper  to  bestow 
npon  it  here  some  additional  consideration. 

The  knowledge  of  revelation,  Mr.  Bush  tells  us,  is  progressive, 
^t  the  progress  he  seems  to  have  in  his  mind,  may  be  said  to  be  more 


1^ 

of  an  outward  than  inward  sort.  The  knowledge  of  the  truth  is  expeci*.. 
ed  to  grow  only  by  accretion,  accumulating  new  material  in  an  exter- 
nal, mechanical  way.  A  certain  number  of  truths  are  taken  to  be  at 
hand  for  all,  clear  and  complete  from  the  beginning.  But  along  with 
these  are  many  dark  things  in  the  bible  ;  which  come  to  be  understood 
gradually,  by  dint  of  study  and  helps  of  science,  improved  hermeneuti- 
cal  apparatus,  and  new  external  facilities  and  opportunities  generally. 
The  discov€ries  thus  made  are  to  be  added  from  age  to  age  to  the 
knowledge  previously  collected^  so  that-  the  quantity  of  it  may  be  con- 
tinually increased  ;  and  this  is  'what  we  are  to  understand  by  the  law 
of  progress  and  gradual  development  in  the  sphere  of  religion.  Now  it 
is  certainly  true,  that  the  case  does  include  the  conception  of  such  en- 
largement simply  from  without ;  although  it  is  clear,  that  the  form  in 
which  this  conception  is  presented  by  Professor  Bush  is  perilous  as 
Rationalism  itself.  For  if  all  foreign  science  as  such  have  a  right  to 
require  that  its  discoveries,  so  far  as  they  may  seem  to  be  related  to  re- 
ligion, shall  be  allowed  to  assist  in  shaping  its  structure  and  making 
out  the  sum  of  its  contents  in  a  merely  external,  mechanical  w'ay,  the 
independent  life  fof  Christianity  may  be  considered  gone  at  the  same 
time.  But  in  opposition  to  this  we  say,  with  Schleiermacher,  that 
Christianity  is  a  new  living  creation  in  itself,  that  can  be  enlarged  pro- 
perly speaking  only  from  within,  and  not  at  all  from  without.  Not  by 
mechanical  accumulation  or  accretion  can  it  be  said  to  grow,  but  only 
in  the  way  of  organic  development.  These  conceptions  are  entirely 
different,  and  it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  the  difference  should  be 
understood  and  felt  in  the  present  case.  The  outward  gain  that  may 
be  secured  for  the  interpretation  of  the  bible,  or  that  may  be  found  in 
the  actual  results  of  such  interpretation,  can  become  important  only  as 
it  is  taken  up  by  the  inward  life  of  Christianity  itself,  and  is  made  sub- 
servient to  its  progress  in  this  view. 

Christianity  we  say  is  organic.  This  implies,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  development,  evolution,  progress.  The  law  of  its  life  moreover 
in  this  form,  includes  its  whole  life.  It  is  not  as  though  the  knowledge 
of  some  truths  had  been  absolutely  complete,  and-  so  stationary  from 
the  beginning,  while  the  knowledge  of  other  truths  has  been  nu- 
merically added  to  it  from  time  to  time.  But  the  whole,  in  all  its 
parts,  is  comprehended  more  or  less  in  the  same  law  ;  since  no  truth 
can  be  absolutely  com.plete  separately  from  tlie  rest^  though  the  general 


20 

process  may  require  that  some  should  be  developed  to  a  certain  point 
at  least,  as  it  might  seem,  in  advance  of  others.  In  this  view  Christianity 
has  an  inward  history,  vastly  more  important  than  that  which  is  simply 
outward  ;  and  all  its  leading  doctrines  have  a  history  too  ;  and  cannot 
he  understood,  it  may  be  added,  apart  from  their  history.  The  idea  of 
such  a  development  does  not  imply  of  course  any  change  in  the  nature 
of  Christianity  itself.  It  implies  just  the  contrary.  It  assumes  that 
the  system  is  complete  in  its  own  nature  from  the  beginning,  and  that 
the  whole  of  it  too  is  comprehended  in  the  life  of  the  Church,  at  all 
points  of  its  history.  But  the  contents  of  this  life  need  to  be  unfolded, 
theoretically  and  practically,  in  the  consciousness  of  the  Church. 
What  it  includes  potentially  and  in  principle  or  idea,  requires  to  be 
actualized  or  made  real  in  Humanity  as  a  new  creation  in  Christ  Jesus. 
All  this  is  something  very  different  from  such  a  "Fortbildung  des 
Ghristenthums,"  as  has  been  commended  to  us  by  the  rationalist  Am- 
mon.  Christianity  can  never  transcend  itself.  It  can  never  become 
absolutely  more  than  it  has  been  from  the  beginning,  in  the  person  of 
Christ  and  in  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  It  belongs  to  its  very  nature 
however,  that  it  should  not  remain  in  the  person  of  Christ  or  the  letter 
of  the  gospel,  but  pass  over  into  the  life  of  the  Church.  This  implies 
development.  In  its  very  constitution,  the  Church  involves  a  process  ; 
which  will  be  complete  only  when  the  "new  heavens"  shall  reflect  in 
full  image  the  "new  earth  wherein  dw^elleth  righteousness."  And  still 
all  this  will  be  nothing  more  than  the  full  evolution  of  the  life  that 
was  in  Christ  from  the  beginning  ;  and  the  full  power  of  which  has 
been  always  present  in  the  Church,  struggling  through  all  ages  to- 
wards this  last  glorious  "manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God." 

I  am  not  able  to  see,  how  any  intelligent  person,  with  a  distinct  un- 
derstanding of  what  is  meant  in  the  case,  and  any  tolerable  knowledge 
of  history,  can  refuse  to  admit  this  view  at  least  to  some  extent.  Can 
any  such  person  seriously  imagine,  that  the  consciousness  of  the 
Church  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  century,  in  the  days  of  Ignatius 
and  Polycarp,  included  all  that  properly  belonged  to  it  in  the  century 
following,  or  all  that  it  reveals  in  the  sixteenth  century,  through  the 
persons  of  Luther,  Melancthon,  Calvin,  and  the  Reformers  in  general  1 
Was  the  new  spiritual  creation  in  Christ  Jesus  exhibited  from  the 
start  as  a  finished  system,  clearly  bounded  and  defined  at  every  point ;, 
oo:  was  it  not  rather  the  power  of  a  divine  life,  that  was  expected  to 


^1 

subdue  the  surrounding"  elements  to  its  own  law,  and  organize  itself 
continuously  from  within'}  No  one  surely  can  read  the  masterly  Church 
history  of  Neander,  without  being  compelled  to  yield  his  mind  in  some 
measure  to  the  force  of  this  idea  ;  and  for  one  who  has  at  all  entered 
into  the  spirit  of  the  work,  the  impression  is  never  likely  to  be  erased. 
"Without  this  idea  indeed.  Church  history  may  be  said  to  be  shorn  of 
all  its  interest  and  meaning.  It  is  no  longer  entitled  to  the  name  of 
history ;  and  for  all  practical  ends  must  be  counted  the  most  barren 
and  useless  of  all  studies  ;  while  in  fact  in  its  true  form,  it  is  a  river  of 
instruction,  deep,  broad  and  full,  conveying  life  to  every  other  depart- 
,ment  of  theology  and  religion.  No  man  who  rejects  this  idea  entirel}'-, 
can  penetrate  the  spirit  of  any  of  the  early  centuries,  or  do  justice  to 
the  character  of  a  single  Church  father. 

But  has  not  the  Church  in  fact  gone  backwards  at  times,  instead  of 
forwards  1  Have  not  doctrines  been  obscured  1  Has  not  Christianity 
been  vastly  corrupted  1  And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  law  of  progress, 
in  view  of  such  facts  1  Does  the  great  Roman  apostacy  constitute  part 
of  the  development  of  Christ's  body'?  Is  the  tenth  century  to  be  held. 
in  advance  of  the  third  1, 

To  one  who  has  any  right  sense  of  history,  questions  like  these  will 
not  be  particularly  confounding.  Assuredly"-  those  who  hold  the  idea 
of  historical  progress,  with  any  proper  knowledge,  do  not  concieve  of 
it  as  a  continuous  movement,  under  the  same  form,  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. They  mean  by  it  only  a  movement,  whose  general,  ultimate 
tendency  is  forwards  and  not  backwards  ;  and  which,  though  it  may 
seem  at  times  to  be  differently  turned,  is  still  found  in  the  end  steadily 
recovering  and  pursuing  its  original  course  ;  as  a  stream  of  water  car- 
ried aside,  or  pressed  back  upon  itself,  by  some  obstruction,  does  but 
force  for  itself  a  more  circuitous  way,  or  only  gather  strength  to  burst 
or  overflow  the  barrier,  that  so  it  may  roll  onward  as  before.  Truth 
can  be  said  to  advance,  only  as  error  is.  surmounted  and  thrown  into 
its  rear.  But  this  requires  that  the  error  should  always,  in  the  first 
place,  make  itself  known  and  felt.  A  position  in  which  the  elements 
of  a  still  latent  error  are  included,  is  of  course  less  advanced  than  a  po- 
sition which  has  been  gained  by  overcoming  the  same  error  after  it  has 
come  to  light ;  and  as  this  can  be  reached  only  through  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  error,  we  may  say  that  the  intermediate  stage  itself  in  which, 


22- 

such  manifestation  takes  place,  though  it  may  seem  to  be  a  falling 
away  as  compared  with  the  period  before,  is  nevertheless  also  an  on- 
ward movement  in  fact.  In  certain  circumstances  it  may  be  absolutely 
necessary,  that  false  tendencies  should  work  themselves  out  through  a 
long,  vast  experiment  of  disastrous  consequences,  before  they  can  be  so 
brought  home  to  the  consciousness  of  the  Church  in  theirrootand  princi- 
ple, as  to  admit  a  radical  cure.  Whole  centuries  even  may  be  compre- 
hended, in  the  circuit  of  such  a  process.  With  this  explanation  then, 
we  need  not  shrink  from  saying  that  the  course  of  the  Church  has  al- 
ways been  onward,  in  periods  of  apostacy  as  well  as  at  other  times  ; 
onward  in  such  sense,  that  the  position  gained  in  surmounting  such 
apostacy  has  never  been  just  the  same  ground  that  was  occupied  before, 
but  an  actual  advance  upon  it  that  could  not  have  been  made  in  any 
other  way.  The  proposition  of  course  holds  good,  only  of  the  proper 
central  stream  in  which  the  one  life  of  the  Church  is  organically  com- 
prehended and  carried  forward  ;  without  regard  to  separate,  particular 
movements,  tiiat  may  refuse  to  go  along  with  this  in  its  general  course. 
In  this  view,  the  Middle  Ages  form  properly  speaking  no  retrogression 
for  Christianity.  They  are  to  be  regarded  rather  as  the  womb,  in, 
which  was  formed  the  life  of  the  Reformation  itself.  For  it  is  perfect- 
ly unhistorical,  to  imagine  that  this  might  have  connected  itself  direct- 
ly with  the  life  of  the  fourth  century,  or  third,  or  second,  in  the  way  of 
simple  continuation,  in  the  same  direction,  and  under  the  same  form. 
Palpably  the  tendencies  which  at  last  produced  the  papal  system  as  a 
whole,  were  all  in  operation  as  early  as  the  end  of  the  second  century. 
The  Middle  Ages  then  as  the  resolution  of  the  latent  mystery  of  ini- 
quity, in  connection  with  the  life  of  the  Church,  stood  nearer  the  re- 
demption that  followed, not  only  in  time,  but  also  in  constitution,  than 
the  period  that  went  before.  The  tenth  century,  with  all  its  darkness, 
must  be  considered  in  advance  of  the  third. 

And  so  too,  accordinor  to  the  view  presented  in  the  present  work,  it 
is  our  privilege  to  believe  that  the  course  of  Protestantism,  (compre- 
hending since  the  Reformation  the  main,  central  stream  of  the  history 
o 'the  Church,)  involves  in  the  same  way  a  true  onward  movement  of 
Christianity;  although  manifestly  it  has  included  from  the  start  certain 
false  tendencies,  which  are  working  themselves  out  inteiimistically  in 
great  and  sore  evils.  If  it  should  prove  inad.equatc  in  the  end  to  rise 
superior  to  these,  it  must  stand  convicted  of  falsehood.     Our  faith  is 


23 

liowever,thatitwillindae  time  surmount  them,  and  thus  throw  into  the 
rear  the  epoch  of  the  sixteenth  century  itself,  by  taking-  a  position  in 
which  the  elements  of  such  aberration  shall  no  longer  be  found  ; 
which  in  such  case  must  be  regarded  of  course  as  theerid,  tow^ards 
which,  through  all  seeming  retrogression  in  the  way  of  heresy  and  di- 
vision, the  Church  of  the  Reformation  has  been  steadily  tending  from 
the  beginning. 

Such  a  view  of  Church  progress  is  certainly  much  more  full  of  en- 
couragemept,  than  any  theory  in  which  the  idea  is  rejected.  What  a 
depressing  imagination,  if  only  it  were  properly  laid  to  heart,  is  that 
by  which  the  papacy  is  taken  to  have  been  for  eight  long  centuries  the 
grave  of  all  true  Christianity ;  and  the  honor  of  the  Reformation  is  sup- 
posed to  require  that  the  whole  life  of  the  Middle  Ages  should  be  re- 
linquished to  Rome,  as  part  and  parcel  of  the  great  apostacy,  instead 
of  being  claimed  as  the  catholic  heritage  of  the  Reformation  itself."  If 
Protestantism  be  not  derived  by  true  and  legitimate  succession  from  the 
Church  life  of  the  Middle  Ages,  it  wall  be  found  perfectly  vain  to  think 
of  connecting  it  genealogically  with  the  life  of  the  Church  at  any  ear- 
lier point.  For  if  it  might  even  be  imagined  possible,  to  effect  a 
junction,  say  with  the  fifth  century,  or  the  fourth,  or  the  third,  by 
means  of  the  small  sect  of  the  Waldenses  and  other  such  "witnesses  of 
the  truth,"  (than  which  no  dream  can  well  be  more  visionary,)  still, 
who  that  has  the  least  true  knowledge  of  history  can  feel,  that  the  Re- 
formation was  in  fact  the  continuation  simply  of  the  life  of  the  Church 
as  it  stood  in  either  of  these  centuries,  secretly  carried  forward  to  the 
age  of  Luther  in  any  such  way  1  The  life  of  the  Church  in  the  fifth, 
fourth,  and  third  centuries,  looks  indeed  towards  the  age  of  Luther  ; 
but  not  immediately  nor  directly.  It  looks  towards  it  only  through  the 
Middle  Period  that  was  to  come  between  ;  the  entire  constitution  of 
which  it  may  be  said  to  have  carried  in  its  womb.  If  the  Reformation 
had  indeed  sprung  directly  from  the  life  of  the  third  century,  it  must 
have  been  something  widely  different  from  what  we  find  it  to  have 
been  in  fact ;  a  birth,  that  could  only  have  repeated,  in  its  subsequent 
development,  the  general  course  of  the  Roman  apostacy  itself;  as  we 
may  see  exemplified,  to  some  extent,  in  the  tendencies  of  Puseyism  as 
borrowed  from  this  distant  antiquity.  That  Protestantism  in  its  true 
character  has  been  something  immeasurably  better,  is  owing  altogether 
to  the  fact  that  it  did  not  spring  in  the  way  of  direct  historical  continua- 


«4 

tion  from  the  fourth  century,  or  the  third,  or  the  second  ;  but  strictly 
and  fully  from  the  more  advanced  life  of  the  ^Middle  Ages,  by  means 
of  which  only  the  way  was  prepared  for  it  to  surmount,  as  it  has 
done,  the  gigantic  errors  that  have  been  left  in  its  rear. 

As  it  regards  too  the  present  state  of  the  Church,  there  can  be  no 
Comparison  again  between  the  two  theories,  that  which  admits  and 
that  which  rejects  the  idea  of  progress,  in  the  same  general  view.  Only 
as  we  can  believe  that  Protestantism  is  itself  a  process,  which  three 
hundred  years  have  not  yet  conducted  to  its  issue,  and  that  its  very 
diseases,  monstrous  as  they  may  Seem,  are  only  helping  it  onward  to  a 
triumphant  resolution  of  its  appointed  problem,  does  it  appear  possible 
to  be  intelligently  satisfied  with  the  present  posture  of  the  great  exper- 
iment. 

Thus  much  it  has  been  thought  proper  to  say  on  this  subject  of  the 
progressive  development  of  Christianity ;  as  it  is  one  w^hich  is  very  lia- 
ble, in  certain  quarters,  to  be  misunderstood  and  misrepresented.  The 
difficulty  which  is  made  with  regard  to  it,  comes  partly  from  this,  that 
no  proper  distinction  is  made  between  Christianity  itself  in  its  ideal 
character,  and  the  same  Christianity  as  actually  apprehended  and  rea- 
lized in  the  life  of  the  Church  ;  and  partly  also  from  the  fact,  that  so 
far  as  some  notion  of  such  a  distinction  may  prevail,  the  relation  be- 
tween the  two  is  still  contemplated  as  outward  and  mechanical,  rather 
than  inward  and  organic.  In  any  true  view  of  the  case  however, 
Christianity  must  be  regarded  as  the  only  proper  idea  of  humanity 
itself.  It  is  not  to  be  joined  with  its  other  modes  of  existence  exter- 
nally, to  make  them  complete;  but  it  is  to  penetrate  all  modes  of  exis- 
tence alike  with  its  own  life,  and  take  them  up  organically  into  its  own 
constitution.  Till  this  be  done,  humanity  must  remain  imperfect,  and 
the  idea  of  Christianity  cannot  be  said  to  be  fully  evolved  in  the  world. 
And  yet  who  will  dare  to  say,  that  the  history  of  the  Church  has  not 
this  evolution  for  its  object;  which  however  is  only  to  say,  in  other 
words,  that  it  is  such  a  process  as  has  now  been  represented.  In  the 
case  of  the  individual  believer,  something  of  the  kind  is  generally  ad- 
mitted. His  religion  is  expected  to  pervade  his  entire  nature,  not  at 
once,  but  gradually  and  progressively,  like  leaven  ;  till  in  the  end  the 
whole  man,  soul  and  body,  shall  appear  transfused  and  transfigured 
with  the  power  of  it  at  every  point.     Here  is  a  process,  beginning  at 


^5 

regeneration  and  ending  in  the  resurrection ;  and  yet  at  the  last  it  can- 
not be  said  properly  to  include  more  than  it  has  included  from  the  first; 
only  that  which  existed  at  first  in  principle  merely,  or  potentially,  in  a 
state  of  involution,  is  tully  actualized  or  evolved  in  the  end  in  the  per^ 
feet  life  of  its  subject.  But  such  a  process  in  the  case  of  single  Chris- 
tians separately  considered,  can  never  fully  represent  the  relation  of 
Christianity  to  our  nature.  The  life  of  man,  in  any  view,  is  not  some- 
thing single  and  separate.  To  a  great  extent,  it  holds  in  the  order  and 
constitution  of  his  nature  as  a  whole.  Humanity  is  not  an  aggregation 
merely  of  men,  but  anorganic  unity  rather  in  which  all  men  are  one. 
And  so  Christianity  also  as'the  perfect  conception  of  humanity,  must  take 
possession  of  it  not  by  separate  individuals  simply,  separately  taken, 
but  generically.  It  must  penetrate  and  transform  into  its  own  image 
the  life,  the  whole  life  of  the  race,  as  such  ;  and  not  till  this  shall  have 
been  done,  can  it  be  said  to  have  fulfilled  its  mission,  or  actualized  its 
idea,  or  accomplished  its  full  development  in  the  consciousness  of  the 
World.  Thus  we  have  in  the  Church  as  a  whole  necessarily,  the 
same  progressive,  leaven-like  action  of  the  Christian  life,  which  we 
have  just  seen  to  hold  in  the  history  of  the  single  believer.  The  king- 
dom of  heaven  here  also  is  like  leaven,  not  simply  as  diffusing  itself  ex- 
tensively through  the  world,  but  in  a  still  more  important  sense  aS 
transfusing  itself  intensively  into  the  life  of  humanity  itself,  as  an  or- 
ganic whole.  Now  we  see  not  yet  the  life  of  humanity  in  this  view 
thus  transfigured,  just  as  little  as  we  see  the  single  saint  made  perfect 
in  holiness  and  glory.  Science,  and  art,  and  government,  and  social 
life,  are  by  no  means  yet  taken  up  organically  into  the  living  constitu- 
tion of  the  Church.  How  then  can  it  be  imagined,  that  the  life  of  the 
Church  involves  in  its  totality  no  process  ]  And  does  it  not  lie  clearly 
in  the  nature  of  the  case,  that  this  process  must  actualize  or  evolve  from 
the  idea  of  Christianity,  age  after  age,  what  was  not  apprehended  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  Church  before,  till  it  shall  become  complete  finally 
in  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  1  Only  indeed  as  it  is  compre*- 
hended  in  this  general  process,  can  the  particular  process  by  which 
the  salvation  of  the  single  Christian  is  accomplished,  from  the  new 
lairth  to  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  be  carried  successfully  forward. 
He  is  saved  in  the  Church,  the  mystical  body  of  Christ ;  and  can  be- 
come  complete,  only  as  the  whole  is  made  complete  of  which  he  is  a 

part.     Hie  resurrection  accordingly,  the  last  result  of  the  organific 

3 


26 

power  of  his  new  nature,  will  be  reached  only  in  connection  with  the 
consummation  of  the  life  of  the  Church  as  a  whole,  when  in  the  fullest 
and  most  glorious  sense,  old  things  shall  have  passed  away  and  all 
things  become  new. 

The  great  question  of  the  age  undoubtedly  is  that  concerning  the 
Church.  It  is  evidently  drawing  to  itself  all  minds  of  the  more  earnest 
order,  more  and  more,  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Where  it  comes  to  be 
apprehended  in  its  true  character,  it  can  hardly  fail  to  be  of  absorbing 
interest ;  nor  is  it  possible  perhaps  for  one  who  has  become  thus  inter- 
ested in  it,  to  dismiss  it  again  from  his  thoughts.  Its  connections 
are  found  to  reach  in  the  end,  through  the  entire  range  of  the  Christian 
life.  Its  issues  are  of  the  most  momentous  nature,  and  solemn  as 
eternity  itself.  No  question  can  be  less  of  merely  curious  or  specula- 
tive interest.  It  is  in  some  respects  just  now  of  all  practical  questions 
decidedly  the  most  practical.  In  these  circumstances,  it  calls  for  at- 
tention, earnest,  and  prayerful,  and  profound.  At  the  same  time,  the 
subject  is  clearly  one  of  great  diflficulty  and  hazard  ;  as  we  may  see 
from  the  strange  confusion  and  contradiction,  in  which  the  controversy 
with  regard  to  it  has  come  already  to  be  involved.  A  subject  manifest- 
ly, that  is  not  to  be  disposed  of  in  any  way  satisfactorily,  in  such  flip, 
pant  wholesale  style  as  with  some  might  seem  to  be  considered  s\iffi- 
cient  for  the  purpose.  Both  the  solemnity  and  difficulty  of  it  have  been 
deeply  felt,  in  the  preparation  of  the  present  work.  It  is  the  fruit  of 
painfully  severe  thought,  baptized  it  is  trusted  in  the  element  of  prayer. 
Not  without  tiue  spiritual  conflict,  does  it  make  its  appearance  in  the 
world.  And  not  without  prayerful  anxiety  is  its  course  followed,  now 
that  it  is  launched  from  the  press,  as  the  first  fruit  of  the  author's  la- 
bors in  this  form,  in  the  new  hemisphere.  Should  the  views  it  offers 
be  disapproved  in  any  direction,  it  is  desired  only  that  it  may  be  in  the 
same  spirit  of  earnestness  in  which  they  are  presented.  If  any  one 
can  show  them  to  be  wrong,  not  by  declamation  or  positive  assertion, 
but  with  deeper  and  more  thorough  exposition  of  the  question  itself, 
it  will  be  not  only  respectfully  but  thankfully  received.  For  the  theme 
is  one  that  calls  for  light  ;  and  if  the  publication  should  only  indirectly 
serve  this  end,  by  leading  to  the  exhibition  of  some  higher  and  better 
view,  in  which  its  own  position  shall  be  fairly  and  truly  surmounted,  it 
will  be  felt  that  it  has  not  appeared  in  vain.     The  author  however  does 


27 

deprecate  all  hasty  and  superficial  judgment,  in  which  ignorance  and 

presumption  may  prevail  more  than  a  heartfelt  reverence  for  truth. 

Especially  he  protests  solemnly  beforehand  against  all  false  or  partial 

statement  of  his  views  ;  an  evil,  to  which  from  the  nature  of  the  subject 

and  the  posture  of  the  times   with  regard  to  it,  he  cannot  help  feeling 

that  he  is  particularly  exposed. 

J.  W.  N. 

Mercersburg, 

March  4,  1845, 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 
Introduction. 32-^35 

PART  FIRST. 
The  Principle  op  Protestantism,  in  its  original 

HISTORICAL    relation    TO     THE     RoMAN    CaTHOLIC 

Church.  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         3& — 94 

Preliminary  Remarks.  Character  of  a  Reformation,  as 
distinguished  from  Revolution  and  Restoration.  Hence 
a  twofold  aspect  of  the  Protestant  Principle,  as  re- 
formatory ,         36 

I.  The  Retrospective  Aspect  ;  or  the  Catholic  Union 

of  the  Reformation  with  the  period  going  before.  37 — 50 

Necessity  of  a  Preparation  including  all  spheres  of 
life.  ., 37 

1.  Preparation  in  the  sphere  of  Politics  and  Popular 
Literature.  ,  .......         38 

2.  Preparation  in  the  sphere  of  Polite  Learning  and 
Profane  Science,  .         .         .         .         .         .         41 

3.  Preparation   in  the    sphere   of  Theology  and  the 
Church 

First  ;  in  a  negative  respect.         ....         43 

Secondly  ;  in  a  positive  respect 

By  religious  feorfies,  (the  Waldenses,  WicMiffites 
and  Hussites^  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life^ 
Oratory  of  Divine  Love,  Mysticism).  .         44 

By  single  persons  {Nicolas  of  Clamenge,  Pierre 
d'Ailly,  John  Gerson,  Savonarola,  John  of 
Weselj  John  Goch,  John  Wessel).  .         .         40; 


30 


Page. 


4.  Preparation  in  the  sphere  o^ Practical  Religion; 
the  legalistic  piety  of  the  Middle  Ages  a  school- 
master towards  the  evangelical  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion.   47 

II.  The  Prospective  Aspect  ;  or  the  Protestant  Prin- 
ciple in  its  original  positive  force.       .         .         .         50 — 94 

Preliminary  remarks.     The  idea  of  progress  in  the     . 
history  of  the  Church.     False  views  of  the  princi- 
ple of  Protestantism.  .         -         .         »         .         50. 

1.  The  material  principle  of  Protestantism  (principi- 
um  essendi),  or  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
grace  alone  through  faith  ;  in  opposition  to  all  pe- 
lagian and  semipelagian  error,  or  the  overvalua- 
tion of  the  natural  will.  ....         54 — 70 

A.  The  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion, with  its  presupposed  conditions  and 
necessary  consequences.  ...         55 

B.  The  Protestant  doctrine 59 

C*  The  principal  papistical  and  rationalistic  ob- 
jections answered.         .         .         .         .         .         66 

2.  The  formal  principle  of  Protestantism  (principium 
cognoscendi),  or  the  docti'ine  of  the  normative 
authority  of  the  sacred  scriptures  ;  in  opposition 
to  the  dogma  of  tradition,  or  the  overvaluation  of 
human  reason,  whether  that  of  the  Church  in  Ro- 
manism or  that  of  the  individual  in  Rationalism.         70 — 94 

A.  The  Roman   Catholic  doctrine  of  scripture 

and  tradition.  .....         72 

B.  The  Protestant  doctrine 76 

C.  Principal  objections  answered.         ...         90 

3.  The  mwiwaZ  reZaiioyi  of  the  two  principles.  Sup- 
plementary sides  only  of  one  and  the  same  princi- 
ple. Their  living  interpcnetralion  the  criterion  of 
genuine,  orthodox  Protestantism.  .         .         .         93; 


31 


PART  SECOND. 

Page. 
The  Principle   op  Protestantism  in  its  relation 

TO  the  LA.TER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  PrOTESTANT 

Church  and  its  state  at  the  present  time.     95 — 176 

General   survey    of  the  historical  course  of  Protes- 
tantism.   95 

I.  Diseases   or    Caricatures   of  Protestantism  ;    un- 

churchly  subjectivism  in  theory  and  practice.  98 — 121 

1.  Rationaliorn,  or  onesided  theoretic  subjectivism  ; 
developed  especially  in  Germany  and  in  the  bosom 

of  the  Lutheran  Church*         .    '     .         .         .         98 — 106 

A.  History  and  character  of  Rationalism.  ^  98 

B.  Its  relation  to  orthodox  Protestantism.  .         101 

C.  The  altered  posture  thus  of  the  time.  .         102 

2,  Sectarism  or  onesided  practical  subjectivism  ; 
developed  especially   in  England  and  America,  in 

the  bosom  of  the  Reformed  Church.       .         .  107 — 121 

A.  History  and  character  of  Sectarism.  .  Ill 

B.  Its  relation  to  the  bible  and  to  orthodox  Pro- 
testantism.   117 

C.  The  altered  posture  thus  of  the  time.  .         120 

II.  Puseyism,  a  well  meant,  but  insufficient  attempt  to 

remedy  these  diseases.         ....  121 — 128 

1.  Its  historical  justification  and  weight  in  opposition 

to  unchurchly  subjectivism.  ....         122 

2.  Its  unprotestant  character,  involving  a  tendency 
backwards  instead  of  forwards 124 

III.  The  standpoint  of  regular  historical  progress  or 
Protestant  Catholicism 128 — 176 

1.  Rationalism  and  Sectarism  viewed  as  a  relatively 
necessary  transition  stage  to  a  higher  development 
of  theology  and  the  Church.  .         .         .         .         132 


32 

Page. 

2.  The  separation  of  the  secular  spheres  of  life  from 
the  Church  since  the  Reformation,  viewed  as  an 
advance  in  the  naturalization  process  of  Christiani- 
ty  135 

3.  Signs  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  theology  and 
the  Church 

A.  In  Germany 146 

B.  In  America.         ......         155 

4.  Ultimate  prospect. 171 

Summary.     One   hundred   and  twelve  theses  for  the 

time. 177 

Appendix.     Sermon  on  Catholic  Unity.  .         .         191 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Brethren  beloved  and  honored  in  the  Lord. 

Guarded  and  led  by  the  almighty  hand,  which  rules  the 
winds  and  the  waves,  1  find  myself  standing  at  length  in  your 
midst,  on  the  threshold  of  my  new  sphere  of  labor.  But  little 
more  than  a  year  ago,  I  had  not  the  most  distant  idea  of  ever 
visiting  the  new  world  ;  while  to  you  all,  my  very  ejiistence  was 
unknown.  You  had  sent  two  worthy  representatives  of  your 
Church  to  the  mother  country,  to  secure  for  your  Theological 
Seminary  a  man,  whose  name  simply,  carrying  with  it  such  a 
charm  as  it  does  for  the  friends  of  the  gospe!  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  was  sufficient  to  clothe  the  institution  with  new  impor- 
tance and  credit  ;  for  whose  sake  alone,  you  were  led  to  embark 
in  so  bold  and  weighty  a  movement.  In  the  hands  of  Him  who 
so  often  frustrates  the  prayers  and  plans  of  his  people  in  one  form, 
to  establish  them  contrary  to  their  short-sighted  wisdom  in  ano- 
ther, this  distinguished  servant  of  God  became  the  medium  by 
which  you  were  conducted  to  myself.  In  no  turn  of  my  life  have 
I  ever  held  myself  more  passive,  than  in  this  removal  to  America  ; 
in  none,  at  the  same  time,  have  I  endeavored  more  conscien- 
tiously and  steadily  to  surrender  myself  entirely  to  the  guidance 
of  the  Lord. 

Strong  indeed  was  the  temptation,  I  confess,  to  remain  in  the 
world-renowned  metropolis  of  German  science,  where  my  aca- 
demic carreer  had  just  begun  to  open  under  favorable  auspices, 
in  the  society  of  so  many  cultivated,  profound,  and  noble  minds, 
well  fitt'-d  to  enlarge  and  invigorate  my  inexperienced  powers, 
and  under  the  fostering  care  of  a  pious  and  highly  gifted  mon- 
arch, who  has  rendered  his  name  immortal  also  in  the  annals  of 
your  Church,  by  the  magnanimous  interest  he  has  shown  in  its 
welfare  ;  there,  along  with  the  German  Evangelical  Church  and 
Theology,  though  only  as  one  of  the  least  in  her  service,  to  fall 
or  conquer  in  the  deadly  warj  that  now  rages  with  fire  and  sword 

4 


34 

•in  the  spiritual  life  of  the  old  world.  But  the  voice  of  nature 
became  dumb,  when  the  most  competent  judges  in  Germany,  ho- 
nored instructors  and  beloved  friends,  men  long  conspicuous  in 
the  religious  history  of  the  age,  with  strange  unanimity  joined  in 
recommending  me  as  one  specially  quahfied  fjr  the  vacant  post 
at  Mercersburg ;  and  when  your  Synod  subsequently,  after  the 
most  earnest  and  mature  deliberation,  saluted  me,  as  i'rom  the 
mouth  of  a  single  man,  with  the  solemn  call,  Come  over  and  help 
us  ! 

And  thus  I  stand  here  to  day  with  the  consoling  consciousness, 
by  which  all  darkness  is  made  light,  that  in  forsaking  literary 
connections,  country,  kindred  and  friends,  as  a  missionary  of 
science,  I  have  not  pursued  a  road  cast  up  by  my  own  hands. 
How  could  1  do  otherwise,  than  I  have  done  1  Israel's  pillar  of 
cloud  and  fire  has  gone  before  me,  in  clear  unbroken  vision,  from 
the  palaces  of  Berlin  to  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Mountains  ;  so  that  I 
almost  tremble  in  view  of  the  vast  perspective  that  is  made  to  open 
upon  me  through  such  foretokenmijs,  and  under  an  unfeigned 
sense  of  my  own  weakness  am  ready  to  ask  misgivingly,  with 
one  greater  than  myself,  Who  am  /,  Lord,  that  thou  shouldst  send 
me  !  Yes,  I  speak  it  plainly  in  your  presence,  when  I  consider 
the  vast  expectations  that  rest  upon  me,  and  the  unmerited  marks 
of  honor  which  attended  my  reception  on  the  12th  of  August,  be- 
fore all  service  on  my  own  part,  I  should  be  cast  down  utterly, 
were  it  not  for  the  stay  I  find  in  God's  encouraging  word  :  1  ivill 
he  with  thy  mouth,  and  will  teach  thee  what  thou  shalt  do.  Fear 
thou  not  ;  for  1  am  with  thee  ;  he  not  dismayed,  for  1  am  thy 
God.  I  will  strengthen  thee  ;  yea,  I  will  help  thee,  I  will  up- 
hold thee  with  the  right  hand  of  my  righteousness.  Behold,  I 
give  power  to  the  faint,  and  increase  strength  to  them  that  have 
no  might.  Even  the  youths  shall  faint,  and.  he  weary,  and  the  young 
men  shall  utterly  fall  ;  hut  they  that  ivait  upon  the  Lord  shall 
renew  their  strength  ;  they  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles  ; 
they  shall  run  and  not  he  weary,  and  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint. 

Whether  now  I  shall  close  my  earthly  career  in  the  western 
world,  or  find  myself  called  to  the  temporary  service  simply  of 
scattering  some  germs  that  may  be  watered  afterwards  and 
brought  to  perfection  by  more  competent  hands  ;  then  to  return 
to  my  original  home,  enriched  with  suc-h  observation  and  e,\peri- 
ence  touching  the  Church,  ns  are  to  be  gathered  from  a  land, 
mirroring  like  this  her  youthful  infirmities  and  the  fresh  practical 
zeal  of  her  first  love,  in  one  picture;  this,  1  say,  is  a  question, 
which  it  is  not  for  me,  nor  for  any  one  else,  at  this  time,  to  de- 
cide.    God's  thoughts  are  not  our  thoughts,  neither  are  his  ways 


our  ways  ;  and  the  man  is  to  be  counted  happy,  who  by  humble 
renunciation  of  his  own  counsels,  and  passive  surrendry  of  his 
course  to  the  conduct  of  his  heavenly  Father,  provides  against 
painful  disappointments  ;  planting  his  feet  on  the  firm  ground  of 
the  actual  present,  and  devoting  his  entire  strength  to  its  claims, 
free  of  all  useless  cares  or  empFy  di'eams  for  the  future.  Now  at 
least  I  am  here,  to  serve  your  Church,  and  in  and  through  this 
the  Church  universal  of  Jesus  Christ.  At  present,  no  field  is 
before  me  save  that  to  which  I  have  been  called  in  America,  and  I 
have  no  ear  for  any  call  besides,  cheerfully  resigned  to  any  issue 
thai  may  follow.  "Whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord,"  it 
matters  not  where,  in  the  old  world  or  in  the  new  ;  "and  whether 
we  die,  we  die  unto  the  Lord.  Whether  we  live  therefore  or  die,, 
we  are  the  Lord's." 

In  such  frame  of  mind,  I  proceed,  according  to  ancient,  vener-  ^ 
able  custom,  before  entermg  formally  on  my  appointed  work,  to 
lay  down  in  your  presence,  as  representing  here  the  German  Re- 
formed Church  in  this  country,  a  sort  of  scjentjfic  religious  con-  ^ 
fession,  that  may  serve  to  explain  distinctly  the  ground  on  which 
I  expect  to  stand  in  your  midst.  I  find  myself  at  no  loss,  in  these 
circumstances,  in  choosing  my  theme.  On  the  practical  relations 
of  the  service  to  which  I  am  called,  I  have  already  spoken,  in  my 
ordination  sermon,. at  another  place.  Here  we  have  to  do  with  its 
theoretic  side  ;  in  such  method  however,  as  to  hold  in  full  view  at 
the  same  lime  the  connection  of  this  with  the  other  interest,  and 
the  end  towards  which  it  should  continually  reach  in  the  life  of 
the  Church.  I  may  say  then  comprehensively,  that  the  founda- 
tion on  which  I  stand,  since  by  the  grace  of  God  I  have  come  to 
any  clear  consciousness  of  religion  and  theology,  is  no  other  than 

fthe  orthodox  Protestant,  or  what  in  my  view  is  the  same,  the  Re- 
formed Catholic  faith  ;  as  it  was  preached  loudly  and  powerfully 
by  the  reformers  of  the  sixteenth  Century,  or  rather  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  in  their  persons,  at  once  purifying  the  Church  from  the 
springs  of  its  primitive  life,  and  raising  it  besides  into  a  new  and 
higher  form.  Upon  this  ancient,  venerable  rock  accordingly,, 
against  whose  front  so  many  hostile  waves  have  already  beeii 
broken,  [  propose  to  build,  with  divine  help,  in  my  present  voca- 
tion ;  making  due  account  at  the  same  time  of  the  past  history  of 
our  Church  as  a  medium  of  instruction,  and  having  constant  re- 
spect also  to  the  special  wants  of  our  own  country  and  our  own 
age. 

Allow  me  then  to  speak  of  the  Principle  of  Protestantism, 

AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  PRESENT  POSTURE  OF  THE  ChURCH, 
3fAJlTICULARLY  IN  THE  UnITED  StATES. 


38 


PART  FIRST. 

The  Principle  of  Protestantism  in  its  original  relation  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church. 

v  To  be  true  to  its  own  idea,  a  Reformation  must  hold  its 
course  midway,  or  through  the  deep  ralher,  between  two  ex- 
tremes. In  opposition  on  the  one  side  to  Revolution,  or  the  ra- 
dical and  violent  overthrow  of  an  existing  system,  it  must  attach 
itself  organically  to  what  is  already  at  hand,  and  grow  forth 
thus  from  the  trunk  of  history,  in  regular  living  union  with  its 
previous  development.  In  opposition  to  simple  Restoration,  on 
the  other  side,  or  a  mere  repetition  of  the  old,  it  must  produce 
from  the  womb  of  this  the  birth  of  something  new.  Christianity 
was  such  a  Reformation,  not  simply  of  Judaism,  but  of  Humanity 
as  a  whole.     With  what  gentle  and  loving  accommodation,  the 

V  Saviour  and  his  Apostels  applied  themselves  to  meet  the  general 
wants  of  the  human  heart,  and  those  particularly  of  their  own 
time  ?  Towards  the  institutions  of  the  old  dispensation,  disfigured 
though  they  were  with  arbitrary  human  additions,  and  towards 
its  official  ministers  also,  however  poorly  for  the  most  part  their 
personal  character  comported  with  their  office,  they  exhibited  all 
becoming  respect.  No  iconoclastic  zeal  distinguished  their 
steps  ;  no  revolutionary  whirlwind  gave  token  of  their  presence. 
Christ  must  fulfil  all  righteousness  himself,  and  charged  his  hea- 
rers to  observe  and  do  what  was  commanded  by  those  icho  sat  in 
Moses'  seat.     Paul,  as  he  informs  us  himself,  became  to  the  Jew 

*/a  Jew,  to  the  Gentile  a  Gentile,  and  in  one  word  all  things  to  all 
men,  that  he  might  if  possible  gain  all  to  Christ.  John  was  rea- 
dy to  allow  the  gift  of  prophecy  to  Caiaphas,  in  his  character  of 
high-priest  ;  and  found  no  difficulty  in  admitting,  that  the  ever- 
lasting light  of  the  divine  Logos  had  shinedin  darhiess  through 
all  ages,  gradually  preparing  the  way  for  its  personal  manifesta- 
tion. And  yet  the  watchword  both  of  himself  and  his  fellow 
apostles,  openly  and  broadly  proclaimed  upon  their  common  ban- 
ner, was  the  Lord's  declaration,  Behold  I  make  all  things  new  ! 
And  what  was  the  result  of  their  mission  ?  In  the  end,  these  hum- 
ble, unlettered  fishermen  of  Galilee  caused  both  the  Jewish  and 
Pagan  systems  to  fall  to  the  ground  together,  and  turned  the 
history  of  the  world  into  a  diffierent  channel  altogether. 

The  same  twofold  character  belongs  to  the  vast  ecclesiastico- 
religious  movement  of  the  Sixteenth  Century.  This  too  carries 
upon  its  standard   the  sacred  field  motto,  "1  am  not  come  to  des- 


37 

troy,  hut  to  fulfil  /"  And  thus  neither  the  unhistorical  radical  on 
the  one  hand,  nor  the  motionless  slave  of  the  past  on  the  other,  fc.- 
can  find  in  the  true  representatives  of  the  Reformation  either  pre- 
cedent or  pattern. 

The  case  requires  to  be  surveyed  under  both  aspects,  in  order 
that  the  principle  of  our  Church  may  be  fully  comprehended,  and 
its  position  turned  to  right  account  for  the  purposes  of  God's 
kingdom. 

I.   The  Retrospective  Aspect  of  the  Keformation  ;  or  its  catholic 
union  with  the  previous  history  of  the  Church, 

In  the  first  place,  we  contemplate  the  Reformation  in  its  strictly 
historical  conditions,  its  catholic  union  with  the  Past.  This 
is  a  vastly  important  point,  which  thousands  in  our  day  appear  to 
overlook  entirely.  They  see  in  the  31st  of  October,  1517,  it  is 
true,  the  birth  day  of  the  Evangelical  Church,  and  find  her  certi- 
ficate of  baptism  in  the  ninety  five  theses  of  Luther  ;  but  at  the 
same  time,  cast  a  deep  stain  upon  the  legitimacy  of  this  birth 
itself,  by  separating  it  from  all  right  relation  to  the  time  that 
v/enr  ibrefore.  In  this  way,  all  interest  is  renounced  in  the 
spiritualwealth  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  which  however  belongs  to  us 
of  right,  as  fully  at  leas!  as  it  does  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  And 
what  is  worse  still,  the  lie  is  given  practically  to  the  Lord's  pro- 
mise itself,  I40,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
ivorld  ! 

No  work  so  vast  as  the  Reformation  could  be  the  product  of  a 
single  man  or  a  single  day.  When  Luther  uttered  the  bold  word 
which  called  it  into  being,  the  sound  was  at  once  echoed  back 
again,  as  in  obedience  to  an  enchanter's  wand,  not  only  from 
every  quarter  of  Germany,  but  from  England  also,  and  France 
and  Italy,  and  Spain.  He  gave  utterance  to  what  was  already 
darkly  present  to  the  general  consciousness  of  his  age,  and 
brought  out  into  full  view  that  which  thousands  before  him,  and 
in  his  own  time,  had  already  been  struggling  in  various  ways  to 
reach.  Genuine  Protestantism  is  no  such  sudden  growth,  spring-- 
ing  up  like  a  mushroom  of  the  night,  as  the  papist,  and  certain 
narrow  minded  ultra-protestants,  would  fain  have  us  believe.  Its 
roots  reach  back  to  the  day  of  Pentecost.  In  all  periods  of  the 
Church,  in  connection  with  the  gradual  progress  of  Romish  cor-  ^ 
ruption,  it  has  had  its.  witnesses,  though  not  always  fully  con- 
scious of  their  own  vocation.  And  it  was  only  when  it  had  be- 
come fully  prepared,  in  all  parts  of  the  Christian  world,  both  ne- 
gatively and  positively,  to  stand  forth  in  full  separate,  objective 

4* 


98 

manifestation,  that  the  Lord  of  the  Church  in  the  end,  from  a^ 
obscure  corner  of  Germany,  called  into  life  the  herald,  whose 
word  was  to  solve  the  oppressive  riddle,  with  which  all  Christen- 
dom had  been  so  long  burdened  ;  the  spiritual  Columbus,  that 
should  open  the  way  into  the  territory,  still  unknown  though  long 
at  hand,  of  evangelical  freedom. 

As  the  several  departments  of  human  life  are  bound  together 
by  an  inward  organic  union,  like  the  members  of  the  same  body  ; 
while  religion  in  particular,  which  takes  hold  upon  the  entire 
man,  in  the  inmost  ground  of  his  personality,  must  exert  a  modi-, 
fying  influence  in  every  other  direction  ;  the  case  requires,  that 
we  should  take  account  of  the  tendencies  which  led  the  way  to 
the  Reformation,  in  the  spheres  of  Politics  and  Science,  as  well 
as  in  that  of  the  Church  strictly  taken. 

^  As  it  regards  the  first,  it  is  clear  that  both  Romanism  and  Pro- 
^  testantism  rest  constitutionally  upon  a  national  basis.  Christian- 
ity,  in  its  eternal  and  everlasting  character,  is  raised  indeed  above 
every  distinction  of  nation  or  race.  It  is  a  religion  for  the  whole 
world.  Still,  on  its  first  publication,  it  found  on  all  sides  a  given 
historical  development,  a  settled  system  of  society,  already  at 
hand.  This,  of  course,  it  did  not  seek  to  demolish  and  recon- 
struct, but  simply  to  transfuse  with  the  power  of  its  own  divine 
life.  In  this  way,  it  became  possible  for  the  old  order  of  exis- 
tence to  break  into  view  again,  with  all  its  characteristic  faults 
and  virtues  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church  itself,  reflecting  the 
Christian  religion  under  its  own  peculiar  image.  Where  pre- 
viously the  eagle  of  the  war  god  spread  forth  his  powerful  talons, 
and  the  earnest,  manly  spirit  of  pagan  Rome  was  enabled  to  or- 
ganise and  hold  together,  by  the  force  of  one  gigantic  and  yet 
minutely  specific  system  of  Law,  the  entire  world  lying  submis- 
sive at  her  feet ;  there,  now,  a  new  empire  appeared,  Rome  re- 
stored in  the  Church  ;  built  up  in  part  by  the  same  agencies  as 
before,  invigorated  only  by  the  presence  of  a  higher  principle  ; 
subduing  the  most  barbarous  nations,  under  the  banner  of  the 
cross,  and  binding  the  most  distant  to  a  common  centre  ;  but  at 
the  same  time  repeating  the  lightnings  of  the  Capitol  in  the  thun- 
ders of  the  Vatican,  directed  against  every  motion  of  freedom, 
and  in  its  conflict  with  the  world  gradually  taking  up  all  the  ele- 
ments of  the  world's  corruption  into  its  own  constitution.  In 
both  cases  we  meet  essentially  the  same  features  of  character  ; 
immovable  resolution,  iron  constancy,  a  restless  grasping  after 
universal  dominion,  and  confidence  of  perpetual  stability;  but  in 
connection  with  all  this,  an  artful  cunning  policy,  disguised  be- 
neath a  show  of  urbanity,  the  Jesuitic  maxim  of  the  end  sanctify- 


39 

mg  the  means,  and  a  heartless  disregard  to  both  national  and  in- 
dividual rights,  in  the  midst  of  vast  pretensions  to  liberality  and 
broad- hearted  pliant  toleration.      The  papacy  is  a  Christian  uni- 
versal monarchy,  erected  on  the  jjopular  spirit  of  ancient  Rome. 
And  as  it  is  necessary  that  authority  should  go  before  indepen- 
dence, the  general  before  the  particular  and  single  ;  which  implies, 
that  barbarous  tribes  require  the  force  of  a  heavy  disciplinary  in- 
stitute, in  the  first  instance,  to  bring  them  to  a  full  free  knowledge 
of  themselves  ;  no   unprejudiced  historian  will  dispute  the  merits 
of  the  Romish  system,  as  erninently  fitted  for  this  service.     Nay, 
in  view  of  such  countries  as  Italy,  Spain,  and  Ireland,  which  have- 
not  yet  outgrown  their  political  minority,  must  we  not  allow  a  re-  • 
lative  necessity  for  it,  even  in  our  own  day  1 

Protestantism   springs  as  all   know,    from  the    German   life,, 
which  may    be  considered  constitutionally   its  proper  womb  and, 
cradle  ;  as  we  find  prophetically  indicated  by  many  voices  of  the 
Middle  Period  even,  like  that  of  Mechtildis,  with  her,  remansurum 
pauperem  et  affiictum  coetum  in  Ger7nania,  qui  pie  ac  pure  Deum 
colat.*     It  was  not  a  matter  of  mere  chance  therefore,  or  some- 
thing indifferent  in  its  nature,  that  the  father  of  the  Reformation, . 
surpassing  all  his  followers  both  at  home  and  abroad,  should  have 
borne  upon  him  the  impress  of  this  particular  nationality,  in  its 
purest,  most  original,  and  most  perfect  form  ;  and  that  his  Ger- 
man  translation  of  the  bible  became  the  recruiting  call  to  so  many 
thousands,  to  rally  round  the  standard  of  the  new,  or  rather,  reno- 
vated  faith.     In   Luther,    all  the  essential  traits  of  the  German 
nationality  are  found  collected  as  it  were  into  a  single  focus  ;  in- 
domitable energy,  earnest  childlike  integrity  and  simplicity,  un- 
affected humility,  and  a  predominant  tendency  towards  the  world: 
of  thought  and  feeling  ;  to   which  must   be  added,  it  is  true,  a 
blunt  carriage,   running  not  unfrequently  into  downright  rude- 
ness,  and  a  certain  undervaluation  of  the  outward  costume  of 
life,  not  to  be  approved  in  any  case.     Such  a  nationality  is  fitted 
constitutionally  for  a  deep,  inward  apprehension  of  the  Christian 
system;  while  the   Roman  and   Romanist  spirit,  as    naturally,, 
was  led  to  embrace  it  prevailingly  in  a  more  outward  way,  as  a 
body  of  mere  rules  and  statutes.     Those  forms  of  character  which 

*  "Only  the  inwardness  of  the  German  nation,"  says  Hegel  {Philo<- 
Sophie  der  Geschichte.  Works,  1st  ed.  vol.  9  p.  417.)  "was  the  soil  of 
the  Reformation  ;  only  from  such  simple,  straight-forward  character, 
could  the  great  work  proceed.  Whilst  other  nations  were  wholly 
taken  up  with  worldly  dominion,  conquests  and  discoveries,  a  plain 
monk  toiled  after  perfection  in  his  spirit  and  brought  it  to  pass." 


40 

have  distinguished  the  German  nature  from  the  beginning,  its: 
love  and  truth,  its  geniality  and  depth,  should  be  regarded  as^a 
prophetical  preparation  for  Christianity.  They  were  so  more 
emphatically  even  than  the  penitential  discipline  of  the  Hindoos, 
or  the  earnest  idealistic  longings  of  the  Platonic  Philosophy  ; 
which  last,  as  it  is  well  known,  served  the  purpose  of  a  bridge,  to 
conduct  so  many  of  the  early  fathers  to  Christ. 

^  These  two  opposite  orders  of  life,  which  might  have  seemed  to 
be  forever  disjoined  by  inward  ineradicable  mutual  hatred,  no 
less  than  by  the  heaven  climbing  mountains  of  snow  that  separa- 
ted them  outwardly,  found  the  middle  wall  of  partition  between 
them  broken  down  notvvithstanding  by  the  power  of  Christianity, 
as  the  religion  of  the  world.  But  now  in  proportion  as  the  Ger- 
man tribes,  under  the  motherly  supervision  of  Rome,  began  to. 
wake^to  self-consciousness,  the  old  struggle  of  Arminius  also, 
which  may  be  said  to  have  foreshadowed  the  disruption  of  the 
papal  yoke  by  Christian  Germany,  was  gradually  renewed.  The 
entire  Middle  Period  is  full  of  the  conflicts  of  the  imperial  power 
in  Germany  with  the  papal  authority  at  Rome.  German  blood 
was  poured  out  like  water  on  the  battle  grounds  of  Italy.  As  far 
back  as  the  time  of  the  Hohenstaufen  a  sect  in  Suabia  declared 
the  pope  a  heretic  ;  and  it  was  long  a  popular  tradition  in  Ger- 
many, that  Frederick  the  Second  w^ould  one  do.y  return,  or  an 
eagle  spring  from  his  blood,  to  overthrow  the  Romish  Church. 
The  conflict  grew  always  more  violent  and  fierce,  in  proportion 
as  the  papacy  surrendered  itself,  more  and  more,  to  the  Machia- 
vellian policy  of  employing  mere  worldly  influences  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  its  ends,  and  laid  itself  out,  under  cover  of  the 
Church,  to  advance  the  private  interests  simply  of  the  popes  and 
their  courtiers,  directing  the  sword  of  St.  Peter  against  every 
liberal  movement  that  came  in  their  way.  Such  foul  prostitution 
of  things  sacred  and  divine  to  mere  secular  ends,  carried  to  tha 
most  shamless  climax  at  last  in  the  traffic  in  indulgences  as  con. 
ducted  by  Tetzel,  together  with  such  hierarchal  despotism  intole- 
rant of  all  right  and  all  freedom,  could  not  fail  to  shock  the  moral 
earnestness  of  the  German  spirit  in  the  most  serious  manner. 
How  could  it  be  otherwise,  in  the  case  of  a  people,  which  in  its 
purest  representatives  has  ever  subordinated  national,  political, 
simply  egoistic  interests  to  the  world-embracing  claims  of  the  spi- 
rit, as  embodied  in  the  Church  ;  and  which  in  the  16th  century, 
in  particular,  when  almost  every  other  nation  either  remained  al- 
together in  communion  with  Rome,  or  stood  forth  simply  on  'gen- 
eral protcstant  ground,  chose  to  be  torn  in  pieces  of  its  own  chil- 
dren,, and  to  see  its  fields  laid  waste  and  its  fair  territory  divided, 


41 

rather  than  to  give  up  eternal  truth  for  a  political  advantage,  the 
momentous  issue  which  divided  the  two  Confessions,  to  save  the 
unity  of  the  nation. 

The  long  cherished  opposition  just  mentioned  passed  over,  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages,  into  the  most  distinguished 
popular  productions  of  the  German  national  literature,  particu- 
larly in  its  epic,  dramatic,  and  satiristic  forms.  It  is  sufficient  to 
remind  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  subject,  of  the  Eulen^ 
Spiegel,  the  German  version  oiReineke  Fuchs,  and  the  FastnachU 
spiele  of  Hans  Rosenblut.  All  these  compositions  served  to  bring 
continucilly  nearer  to  the  consciousness  of  the  people,  the  faults 
of  the  time,  and  especially  the  corruption  of  the  Clergy  and  thfe 
pernicious  consequences  of  transalpine  influence.  In  the  end  the 
tendency  of  the  popular  national  literature  found  its  most  eloquent 
expounders,  simultaneously  with  the  appearance  of  Luther,  in  the 
persons  of  Ulrich  von  Hutten  and  the  celebrated  Hans  Sachs. 

But  with  all  the  importance  of  this  political  and  literary  oppo- 
sition  to  Italy,  it  is  by  no  means  sufficient  of  itself  to  explain  the 
Reformation.  To  suppose  this  would  be  superficial  in  the  ex- 
treme ;  as  is  shown  at  once  by  the  fact,  that  a  large  part  of  Ger- 
many still  continues,  though  in  a  more  inward  and  iree  way  than 
other  nations,  to  do  homage  to  the  see  of  Rome.  It  would  have 
been  a  calamity  rather,  if  the  political  tendency  had  drawn  the 
direction  of'  the  Reformation  into  its  own  hands.  Luther  found 
no  pleasure  in  the  later  enterprises  of  Hutten  and  Sickingen  ; 
taking  the  ground  against  them,  that  the  Church  was  not  to  be 
revived  by  means,  of  outward,  carnal  w^eapons,  but  only  by  means 
of  the  divine  word  from  which  it  had  its  life  in  the  beginning. 
The  war  of  the  Peasants,  which  rose  like  a  dark  column  of  smoke 
in  connection  with  the  pure  flame  of  the  reformation,  was  repudia- 
ted by  him  as  a  miserable  caricature  of  his  work  ;  and  just  as 
little  respect  did  he  show  for  the  Anabaptists  and  their  wild  dreams 
of  liberty  and  equality. 

The  way  of  the  Reformation  was  prepared,  in  like  manner,  in 
the  smaller  circle  of  the  learned,  by  the  remval  of  the  sciences  ; 
and  it  is  a  circumstance  accordingly  not  to  be  overlooked  that  the 
representatives  of  the  movement,  in  particular  Melancthon, 
Calvin  and  Beza,  surpassed  in  thorough  humanistic  culture,  al- 
most all  their  cotemporaries.  The  emigration  of  learned  Greeks 
to  the  West,  which  look  place  after  the  destruction  of  Constanti- 
nople, and  the  fruitful  labors  of  Petrarch,  had  contributed  to  ex- 
tend still  more  and  more  the  study  of  the  ancient  languages  ;  tho 
(j-arkness  of  ignorance  and  superstition  was  coming  gradually  to> 


4a 

disperse  ;  the  spiritual  horizon  of  the  nations  had  begun  to  grow 
clear.  In  Italy,  the  ancient  life,  through  livins;  contemplation  of 
the  monuments  of  classic  Art,  stood  forth  in  fresh  reproductions, 
revolutionizing  on  a  large  scale  the  entire  literature,  and  indeed 
the  whole  order  of  thinking.  Almost  all  the  philosophical  systems 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  were  honored  again  with  living  adherents 
and  advocates.  Platonism  once  more,  as  in  the  first  ages  of  the 
Church,  excited  a  longing  for  something  higher  and  better  than 
all  that  was  offered  by  the  present.  We  see  this  particularly  in 
Marsiglio  Ficino,  who  may  be  taken  as  the  repre-^entative  of  a 
widely  extended  feeling,  and  who  especially  in  his  latter  years — 
a  sort  of  Christian  Plutarch — endeavoured  to  reconcile  the  culture 
of  the  age  with  Christianity.  The  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  and 
•  Greek  languages,  promoted  with  untiring  zeal  by  Rkuchlik  and 
Erasmus,  furnished  the  key  to  the  understunding  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  and  enabled  the  Reformers,  (indispensable  for 
the  purpose,)  to  translate  them  into  the  vernacular  tongues,  and 
so  to  open  the  way  for  them  into  the  life  of  the  people.  It  de- 
serves notice  particularly,  that  the  two  first  editions  of  the  Greek 
New  Testament,  that  of  Erasmus  in  the  year  1516  and  that  of 
the  Complutensian  Polyglott  in  the  year  1520,  appeared  simulta- 
neously with  the  commencement  of  the  Reformation  ;  and  under 
protection  too  of  the  papal  authority,  which- dreamed  not  yet  of 
the  powerful  assault,  that  was  to  be  made  upon  it  soon  from  this 
book.  The  edition  of  Erasmus  was  repeated  in  a  short  time,  over 
and  over  again,  and  thus  by  means  of  the  art  of  printing,  not  long 
before  discovered,  found  its  way  into  thousands  of  hands. 

It  shows  strikingly  how  very  general  the  feeling  of  opposition 
to  the  superstition  and  immorality  of  the  clergy  had  become,  that 
this  same  small,  cowardly  and  cautious  Erasmus  was  pnublcd  to 
occupy  so  successfully  as  he  did  the  apparently  bold  and  perilous 
position  in  which  he  stood.  No  one  attacked  the  vices,  of  the 
clergy  so  sharply,  with  the  same  cutting  wit  and  inexhaustible 
humor.  His  hatred  for  the  monks  seemed  to  be  constitutional. 
He  made  it  his  great  business,  to  draw  theological  study  off  from 
the  reigning  scholastic  method,  and  back  to  the  fathers  of  the 
Church  and  the  New  Testament ;  and  to  this  last,  not  as  exhibi- 
ted in  the  Vulgate,  which  he  was  bold  enough  to  convict  of  an 
immense  mass  of  errors,  but  as  found  in  the  original  text.  And 
still,  this  man  stood  in  the  most  honorable  correspondence  with 
the  leading  men  of  his  time.  Presents,  and  marks  ot  respect, 
were  showered  upon  him  from  all  sides.  Wreaths  of  fame 
adorned  his  person.  His  presence  was  courted,  wMth  special  in- 
vitation, in  all  parts  of  the  world.     And  his  Encomium  Moriac^, 


46 

t'he  most  severe  of  ail  his  works  against  the  clergy,  passed  du- 
ring his  lifetime  through  twenty  seven  editions,  and  made  its 
appearance  in  every  cultivated  language  oflheage. 

But  still  these  scientific  and  humanistic  tendencies  again,  are 
not  sufficient  to  account  for  the  Reformation.  Many,  by  the  study 
of  the  ancient  languages  and  philosophy,  were  led,  in  Italy  partic- 
ularly, into  the  most  decided  infidelity,  which  is  worse  of  course 
than  superstition  itself.  Erasmus  himself,  it  is  known,  drew  back 
in  his  latter  years  always  more  and  more  from  the  work  of  the 
Reformation.  We  cannot  pronounce  him  void  of  ail  regard  for 
evangelical  truth  ;  but  altogether  his  influence  was  mainly  of  the 
negative  sort,  and  was  just  as  likely,  but  for  the  intervention  of 
the  reformation  in  its  true  form,  to  have  called  forth  a  false  and 
perilous  action,  in  the  {vee  thinking,  liberalistic  style,  as  it  was  to 
serve  the  cause  in  question.  "He  knew  well,"  as  Luther  tells  us, 
who  saw  through  him  completely,  "how  to  expose  errors,  but  not 
how  to  teach  the  truth."  Indeed  if  science  and  art  could  have 
produced  the  Reforma(ion,  Leo  the  Tenth,  in  whom  they  found  so 
zealous  a  patron,  must  have  been  one  of  the  best  reformers.  The 
learning  and  cultivation  of  the  age  were  primarily  of  the  nature 
o!"  a  mere  instrument,  which,  as  it  came  to  be  associated  either 
with  piety  or  with  the  spirit  of  the  world,  might  be  made  subser* 
vient  to  exactly  opposite  ends. 

Leaving  behind  now  the  outer  court  of  politics,  popular  litera- 
tureand  profane  science,  as  thus  far  surveyed,  we  approach  nearer 
to  the  proper  sanctuary  of  the  Reformation,  and  fix  our  attention 
on  the  movements  by  which  its  way  was  prepared  in  the  sphere  of 
Theologi)  and  the  Church.  Here  however  we  must  distinguish 
carefully  between  simply  negative  action,  so  directed  against  er- 
ror as  to  make  war  upon  the  truth  more  or  less  at  the  same  time, 
and  that  of  a  positive  character,  springing  from  the  life  of  the 
Church  itself.  The  first  we  find  exemplified,  in  general,  by  the 
sects  of  the  Alhigenses,  the  Beghards  and  Beguines,  the  Bogo- 
milcs,  and  Catharists  ;  and  by  such  men  moreover  as  Arnold 
of  Brescia^  Amalrich  of  Bena,  David  of  Dinanto,  and  others, 
who  without  any  proper  Church-feeling,  and  under  the  influence 
of  hyper-spiritualistic,  and  not  unfrequently  Manichean  and  pan- 
theistic views,  set  themselves  in  opposition  to  truth  and  error 
promis;cuou>ily.  The  Catholic  Church  regarded  all  these  proper- 
ly as  heretics  ;  but  employed  carnal  weapons,  instead  of  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  to  put  them  down,  and  in  this  way  rendered 
[hem  only  so  much  the  more  dangerous. 

Of  much  greater  account,  of  course,  is  the  positive  tendency  of 
the  Theology  and  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages  towards  the  Refor- 


44 

mation.  Here  we  meet  whole  communities ^  and  also  single  voi- 
ces. Among  the  first,  a  principal  place  belongs  to  the  Walden- 
ses;  who  accompany  us,  in  spite  ot"  the  fierce  persecutions  of  the 
papacy,  like  a  lamp  in  the  night,  from  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
Century  down  to  the  time  of  Luther  ;  and  whose  life  of  simplici- 
tv  and  strict  virtue  is  still  perpetuated  indeed,  even  in  our  own 
time,  amidst  surrounding  Romish  supersliiion,  in  the  vallies  of 
Piedmont,  near  to  Turin.  They  based  their  opposition  to  the 
reigning  Church  upon  the  holy  scriptures,  which  many  of  their 
members  knew  almost  entirely  by  heart  ;  so  that,  in  some  in- 
stances, they  were  called  in  even  by  the  Romish  ecclesiastics 
themselves  to  assist  them  in  their  disputations  with  heretics. 

•  WiCKLiFFE  in  Oxford,  and  Huss  in  Prague,  though  apparently 
overwhelmed  by  the  ruling  hierarchy,  had  not  labored  in  vain,  in 
contending  against  abuses  and  false  doctrine, "^and  in  calling  men's 
minds  away  from  extcn^nals  to  insvard  godliness,  and  from  human 
traditions  to  the  word  of  God  as  the  only  fountain  of  true  theology. 
We  find  a  large  number  of  Wickliffites  in  England  ;  and  from 
the  Hussites  arose  by  degrees  the  B'jhemian  and  31oravian 
Brethren,  who  made  it  their  object  to  restore  the  simplicity, 
spirituality,  and  strict  discipline  of  the  apostolic  age.  They  had 
already  as  many  as  two  hundred  churches  and  houses  for  prayer, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  Sixteenth  Century. 

The  Society  of  the  Fratres  communis  vitae  also,  instituted  by 
Geriiaud  Groot,  towards  the  close  of  the  14th  Century,  must 
not  be  forgotten.  It  proposed  to  preserve  what  was  true  and  ^ood 
in  the  conventual  system  of  the  age,  without  its  excrescences. 
Thus  for  instance  it  allowed  no  monastic  vows,  but  only  free  re- 
solutions in  dependence  on  God's  grace.  From  this  association 
proceeded  many  distinguished  men,  with  Thomas  a  Kempis  at 
their  head  ;  who  preached  the  word  of  God  in  the  vernacular 
tongue  ;  devoted  themselves  earnestly  to  the  instruction  of  the 
young  ;  insisted  in  a  style  very  difft-^rent  from  the  Pharisaic  for- 
mality of  the  times  on  deep,  inward,  practical  piety  ;  and  in  op- 
position to  the  prevalent  dry  learning;  of  the  schools,  acknowledL'ed 
no  wisdom,  but  such  as  carried  with  it  at  the  same  time  a  sancti- 
fying power. 

Attention  is  due  farther  to  an  association  that  rose  in  Italy,  and 
formed  an  interesting  analogy  of  the  German  protestantism, 
though  for  reasons  easily  understood  it  fell  far  short  of  it  in  its  de- 
velopment. An  Orator ij  of  dicine  Love  was  established  in  the 
church  of  St.  Sylvester  and  Dorothea,  across  the  7'iber  at  Rome, 
where  in  the  time  of  Leo  X.  as  many  as  fifty  or  sixty  distinguished 


4S 

men,  including  such  names  as  Contarini,  Sadolet,  GibertO; 
Caraffa,  and  Lippomano,  were  accustomed  to  meet  statedly 
for  mutual  religious  edification.  These  men,  some  of  whom  after- 
wards slrucls  4nto  a  very  different  path  when  they  came  to  be 
adorned  with  the  cardinal's  cap,  had  come  to  the  very  threshold 
of  the  evangelical  doctrine  of  justification  !  Contarini  composed 
a  treatise  on  the  subject,  which  led  Pole  to  say,  in  writing  to 
him,  "You  have  brought  into  the  light  a  precious  jewel,  which 
was  before  half  concealed  in  the  keeping  of  the  Church."  Ano- 
ther member  of  this  association  M.  A.  Flaminio  writes  in  his 
epistle  to  Theodorina  Sauli :  "The  gospel  is  nothing  else  than  the 
glad  tidings,  that  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,  clothed  in  our 
flesh,  has  rendered  satisfaction  to  the  righteousness  of  the  eternal 
Father  on  our  account.  He  who  believes  this  enters  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  finds  universal  forgiveness,  is  changed  from  a 
carnal  to  a  spiritual  nature,  from  a  child  of  wrath  to  a  child  of 
grace,  and  leads  a  life  of  sweet  peace  in  his  conscience."* 

But  among  all  ihe  movements  and  connections  in  which  a  re-  - 
formatory  element  may  be  discovered  to  have  been  at  work  before 
the  time  of  Luther,  none  is  more  worthy  of  being  noticed,  than 
the  interest  o^  mysticism.  Its  influence  was  felt  indeed  by  several 
of  the  associations  to  which  we  have  already  referred,  particular- 
ly by  the  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life.  But  we  find  it  besides 
running  in  various  forms,  with  more  full  development,  through 
the  entire  Middle  Age  ;  and  the  influence  of  it,  in  this  view,  on 
Luther  himself,  is  not  to  be  mistaken.  He  was  the  affectionate 
disciple  of  John  von  Staupitz,  in  whom  a  profound,  August!- 
nian,  mystical  tendency  strongly  prevailed ;  and  he  was  the  pub- 
lisher and  eulogist  of  the  old  treatise  entitled,  "TAe  German 
Theology, ^"^  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  flower  of  the  ascetico- 
speculative  spirit  in  this  form.  The  reformatory  bearing  of  the 
mystical  system  appeared  in  this,  that  it  drew  attention  away 
from  mere  externals,  in  which  the  idea  of  religion  and  the  Church 
had  become  well  nigh  lost,  to  the  exercises  of  the  heart  ;  and 
breaking  through  the  barriers,  which  had  been  interposed  between 
man  and  his  Maker  by  the  hierarchical  framework  of  the  papacy, 
and  in  defiance  at  the  same  time  of  the  dialectics  of  the  schools, 
threw  itself  directly  into  the  stream  of  the  divine  life  itself.  In 
its  view,  religion  was  to  be  apprehended  not  as  a  system  of  forms, 


*  For  more  on  the  subject  of  this  interesting  tendency,  the  influence 
of  which  extended  even  to  the  gay,  pleasure-seeking  Naples,  the  reader 
is  referred  to  Leop.  Ranke's,  Die rcemischen  Psepsteim  IQten  und  llien 
JaUrhundert.     Vol.  1.  p.  134. 


46 

but  as  the  inmost  life  of  its  subject.  It  thirsted  after  direct  com- 
munion with  God.  Mysticism  however  had  no  power,  of  itself,  to 
produce  a  reformation.  It  is  deficient  in  practical  energy.  Pre- 
dominantly subjective  in  its  nature,  and  resting  too  exclusively  in 
mere  feeling,  it  has  no  capacity  to  overcome  the  world.  Its  life 
proceeds  accordingly,  in  lonely  retirement,  without  action,  like 
the  mysterious  flower  that  unfolds  its  petals  in  the  stillness  of  the 
night,  but  gathers  them  in  again  with  shrinking  sensitiveness  as 
goon  as  they  are  touched  by  a  hand. 

Not  less  significant  however  than  these  collective  tendencies,  are 
the  separate  stiivings  towards  the  Reformation  to  be  considered, 
which  show  themselves  in  particular  individuals  with  growing  fre- 
quency, in  the  course  of  the  15th  Century  and  with  the  opening  of 
that  which  followed.  These  sprang  partly  from  a  practical  religious 
interest,  and  partly  from  an  interest  in  theology  as  a  science,  and  in 
both  forms  wrought  powerfully,  in  the  way  of  controversy  and  in 
the  way  of  quiet  positive  teachini>,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  new 
era  that  was  at  hand.  The  celebrated  councils  of  Constance  and 
Basel,  which  had  insisted  on  a  reformation  of  the  Church  in  its  head 
and  members,  though  with  their  self-contradictory  constitution 
they  could  not  accomplish  the  work  ;  and  the  deep  toned  lamen- 
tations, of  a  Nicolas  of  Clamenge,  (f/e  Clemangis,)  Pierre  d'A- 
TiLLY,  John  von  Gerson,*  and  others,  over  the  reigning  corrup- 

*  In  the  way  of  example,  I  present  a  single  passage  irom  the  most 
conspicuous  of  these,  John  von  Gerson,  Chancellor  of  the  University 
of  Paris  (j"  1489).  "The  Apostle  says  indeed,  Let  every  soul  be  sub- 
ject to  the  higher  powers.  JBut  this  must  be  understood  with  the  pro- 
vision, that  such  obedience  shall  not  run  into  blasphemy  against  God 
Almighty,  or  dishonor  to  Christ  and  his  gospel.  Certainly  however 
there  can  be  no  greater  blasphemy  against  God  Almighty,  than  when 
our  superiors  without  distinction  expose  the  Church  to  sale  publicly  as 
merchandise,  and  for  gold  deliver  her  like  a  strumpet  into  the  hands  of 
murderers,  adulterers,  malefactors  of  every  sort;  the  Church,  which  is 
the  glorious  bride,  the  elected  virgin  of  Christ,  that  he  has  purchased 
of  his  mere  mercy  by  his  precious  blood,  his  sufferings,  his  reproach, 
the  accursed  death  of  the  cross  itself.  Judas  sold  Christ  unce  for 
thirty  pieces  of  Silver  ;  these  sell  him  continually  a  hundred  limes 
over.  In  many  cases  they  sell  to  one,  and  when  they  have  the  money 
take  his  purchase  from  him  ajrain,  to  offer  it  the  next  hour  for  more 
money  to  another.  1  conclude  then  that  obedience  to  superiors  ceases 
to  be  a  duty,  where  their  works  are  openly  bad  and  a  source  of  scandal 
to  the  whole  C^hurch  ;  where  the  sliepherds  are  shearers  ;  not  sheep, 
but  wolves  ;  not  sober,  but  drunken  ;  not  prelates,  that  give  Their  lives 
for  the  sheep,  but  Pilates,  that  serve  the  lusts  of  others  ;  casting  forth 
iljeir  net,  not  to  catch  souls,  but  money."  (/)e  refurmalione  ecclesiue  in 
amcilii)  universali.  c.  24.)  "The  Church  of  the  present  day  is  not 
apostolic,  but  apostate  ;  not  a  place  to  stay  in,  but  to  flee  from  rather 
to  the  greatest  distance."  (lb.  c.  25.) 


47 

tion,  had  served  to  disseminate  a  longing  desire  for  a  better, 
state  of  religion  through  all  sections  of  Europe.  This  feeling 
found  its  or<;ans  in  such  men  as  the  Dominican  Savonarola  of  "* 
San  Marco  in  Florence,  who  preached  with  prophetic  indiana- 
tion,  in  the  boldest  style,  not  without  a  hurtful  mixture  indeed  of 
political  zeal,  against  the  licentiousness  that  had  come  to  abound 
in  the  Church,  and  sealed  his  testimon}^  with  his  blood  in  the 
year  1498.  Such  also  were  John  von  Wesel,  (dc  Wesalia,) 
Professor  of  Theology  at  Erfurth,  (f  1482),  John  von  Goch,  a 
native  ot"  Cleves,  (f  1475),  and  the  Frieshmder,  John  Wessel 
(t  1489).  These  all  insisted  more  or  less  clearly  on  the  Au<^us- 
tinian  doctrine  of  grace,  in  opposition  to  the  prevailino-  Jewish 
idea  of  righteousness  by  works  and  bondage  to  the  law,  and  ap- 
pealed to  the  sacred  scriptures  as  the  only  sure  ground  and  source 
of  Christian  doctrine.  This  was  carried  so  far  indeed  in  the  case 
oi^  John  Wessel,  who  went  beyond  all  others  before  the  Reforma- 
tion in  his  apprehension  of  the  protestant  doctrine  of  justification, 
that  Luther,  under  valuing  it  is  truehis  own  merits,  did  not  hes- 
itate to  say  :  "  If  1  had  read  Wessel  previously,  my  adversaries 
might  have  supposed  that  Luther  had  borrowed  all  from  Wessel, 
so  well  do  our  views  agree."  In  none  of  these  men  however  was 
there  found  such  a  union  of  all  the  powers  that  are  needed  for  a 
reformalion,  as  was  possessed  by  Luther  and  Calvin,  for 
whom  it  was  reserved  accordingly  to  accomplish  so  great  a 
work. 

Enough  has  been  said  already  to  vindicate  an  absolute  histori- 
cal necessity  to  the  Reformation,  and  to  expose  in  its  utter  empti-  — 
ness  and  nakedness  the  reproach,  cast  upon  it  by  its  enemies,  as 
an  uncalled  for  innovation.  We  go  farther  however,  and  affirm, 
that  the  entire  Catholic  Church  as  such,  so  far  as  it  might  be  "^ 
considered  the  legitimate  bearer  of  the  Christian  faith  and  life,  ^ 
pressed  with  inward  necessary  im.pulse  towards  Protestantism  , 
just  as  Judaism — not  in  its  character  of  Pharisaism  and  Saddu- 
ceeism  indeed,  but  as  a  divinely  appointed  preparatory  institute, 
and  viewed  in  its  true  historical  import — rolled  with  steady  power- 
ful stream,  in  its  interior  legal,  symbolical  and  prophetical  prin- 
ciple, directly  towards  Christianity,  as  the  fulfilment  of  the  law, 
the  prototype  of  all  its  symbols,  and  the  accomplishment  of  all  its 
prophecies.  The  Councils  of  Constance  and  Basel  alone  furnish 
proof,  that  the  call  for  a  reformation  had  its  ground,  not  simply  in 
the  sects,  and  in  single  individuals  more  or  less  estranged  from 
the  objective  life  of  the  Church,  but  in  the  heart  of  the  Church 
itself,  and  in  the  persons  of  those  who  were  most  fully  penetrated 
with  its  life.  This  affirmation,  as  well  as  the  appeal  to  the  case 
of  Judaism,  may  require  some  additional  illustration. 


4a 

^  The  Catholic  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages,  as  already  intimated, 
was  a  Church  of  Law  and  Authority  ;  well  fitted,  by  means  of  its 
vast  disciplinary  system,  turning  on  a  single  living  centre  and 
perfectly  complete  in  all  its  parts,  to  exercise  a  wardship  over  the 
nations,  still  in  their  childhood,  till  such  time  as  they  might  be 
ripe  for  a  fuller  appropriation  of  the  evangelical  principle,  and 
the  use  of  an  independent  manly  freedom.  In  saying  this,  we  do 
not  question  the  presence  of  the  gospel  in  the  communion  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  any'more  than  we  doubt  the  comfort  of 
the  promise,  that  went  hand  in  hand  with  the  development  of  the 
Old  Testament  law.  Still,  the  'predominant  spirit,  in  both  cases, 
was  legal  ;  as  might  easily  be  proved,  in  minute  detail,  if  this  were 
the  proper  place.*  Now  it  belongs  always  to  the  nature  of  the 
law,  to  excite  in  man  a  feeling  that  reaches  beyond  itself,  and  re- 
fuses to  be  satisfied  by  its  means  ;  a  feeling  that  craves  reconcil- 
iation with  the  lawgiver,  and  the  full  possession  of  that  righteous- 
ness which  he  requires.  More  definitely  expressed,  the  law  is  a 
schoolmaster  to  bring  men  to  Christ,  who  has  fulfilled  its  requi- 
sitions in  their  largest  extent,  and  makes  over  to  us  the  benefit  of 
this   obedience,   as  a  free  unmerited  gift,   by  the  power  of  his, 

^  Spirit.  Thus  the  Jewish  dispensation  looked  always  towards  the 
gospel  ;  and  in  like  manner  the  discipline  of  the  Roman  Church 
involved  an  inward  struggle,  that  became  satisfied  at  last  only  in 
the  evangelical  emancipation  of  Protestantism. 

It  is  only  from  this  point  of  view  we  com.9  to  understand  fully 
the  personal  life  of  Luther,  in  which  the  genesis  of  our  Church, 
itself  is  reflected  with  the  most  clear  and  graphic  representation. 
It  was  no  political,  national,  scientific,  or  theological  interest  even, 
that  impelled  him  to  his  work.  The  immediate,  original  ground 
of  it,  is  to  be  sought  in  the  very  centre  of  the  religious  life  of  the 
/  Catholic  Church  itself,  as  it  stood  at  the  time.  This  Church,  he 
was    proud  at  one  time  to  call  his  mother  ;  and  his  separation 

*  This  legal  character  of  the  Middle  Ages  \yas  clearly  perceived  by 
many  of  the  forerunners  of  the  Reformation  themselves.  Specially 
worthy  of  notice  in  this  respect,  is  an  uncommonly  striking  description 
o^  Cornelius  Graphaeus,  of  Flanders,  (born  1482),  which  is  to  be  found, 
in  the  classic  work  of  my  much  esteemed  friend  UUmann,  entitled, 
lieformatoren  vor  der  Reformation,  Vol.  1.  p.  153  if.  All  who  wish  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  forerunners  of  the  Reformation  in  Ger- 
many and  the  Netherlands,  may  tind  all  they  need  for  the  purpose,  in 
this  thoroughly  learned  and  well  written  work,  presented  in  the  n^ost 
entertaining  form.  May  the  learned  author  soon  add  to  the  two 
volumes  which  have  already  appeared,  a  farther  continuation  on  what 
still  remains  of  his  general  subject,  at  least  so  far  as  the  philological 
and  humanistic  precursors  of  the  Reformation  are  concerned. 


49 

from  her  visible  head  cost  him  a  struggle,  a.  self-immolation,  of 
which,  now  that  the  great  rupture  is  past,  it  is  hard  for  us  to  form 
any  clear  conception.  The  most  faithful  and  conscientious  of 
monks,  he  subjected  himself  intellectually  to  the  logical  discipline 
of  the  schools,  and  bore  practically  the  prescribed  penanc<s  and 
other  legal  burdens  of  the  Catholic  Church,  as  those  of  Judaism  -* 
had  been  borne  by  Paul.  To  become  righteous  before  God,  to 
appear  as  a  saint  in  his  presence,  was  the  object  for  which  he 
wrestled  without  intermission.  But  the  longer  he  continued  iri. 
this  hard  school,  he  became  sensible  the  more  of  his  own  weak- 
ness, and  of  his  immeasurable  distance  from  ihe  ideal  he  was  la- 
boring to  reach,  and  in  the  same  proportion  was  brought  to  long, 
after  a  redeemer  from  the  body  of  such  death,  and  the  terrible 
conflict  between  the  law  in  his  members  and  the  law  of  the  Spirit  ; 
till  in  the  end,  like  his  great  apostolical  pattern,  he  beheld  the 
Crucified  in  his  spiritual  glory,  and  by  faith  in  him  received  at 
once,  in  all  its  fulness^  as  a  free  gift,  all  that  he  had  been  vainl/ 
endeavoring  to  secure  by  his  own  strength  before.  Of  a  truth, 
we  may  say,  the  pains  endured  in .  the  mortification  of  the  flesh 
and  in  legal  wrestlings  after  righteousness  v/ith  God,  by  the  noblest 
spirits  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Mystics  in  particular,  with  the 
anxiously  religious  Augustinlan  Monk  at  their,  head,  are  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  true  birth-pangs  of  our  Protestant  Church.* 

As  the  result  then  of  this  whole  representation,  we  reach  the 
following,  for  the  vindication  of  Protestantism  vastly  important, 
and  even  indespensable,  proposition  :  The  Refonnation  is  the  ^ 
legitimate  offspring,  the  greatest  act  of  the  Catholic  Church; 
and  on  this  account  of  true  catholic  nature  itself,  in  its  genuine 
conception  :  whereas  the  Church  of  Rome,  instead  of  following 
the^  divine  conduct  of  history  has  continued  to  stick  in  the  old 
law  of  commandments,  the  garh  of  childhood,  like  the  Jewish 

*  We  may  observe  in  Calvin  also,  and  to  a  greater  extent  indeed  than 
in  Luther,  the  traces  in,  every  direction  of  the  severe  legal  discipline, 
intellectual  and  practical,  which,  the  Catholic  Church,  in  spiie  of  all  • 
her  corruptions,  still  continued  to  exercise  at  least  over  minds  of  the 
more  serious  order.  It  would  be  wholly  beyond  the  capacity  of  our 
own  age,  to  produce  such  an  amount  of  resolute,  vigorous,  large  pro- 
portioned character,  as  is  presented  to  us  in  the  reformers.  .  We  have 
lost  almost  entirely  the  consciousness  of  the  power  of  the  law,  as  it  is 
felt  always  in  the  earlier  stages  cf  life.  Along  with  our  scientifie 
Seminaries,  we  stand  in  great  want  of  institutions  expressly  for  the 
cultivation  of  character  ;  and  in  this  particular,  we  might,  and  should,  , 

L learn  much  from  the  Romish  Church,  the  schools  especially  of  th©> 
Jesuits.  . 

5.* 


50 

hierarchy  in  the  time  of  Christy  and  thus  by  its  fixation  as  Uo-:.. 
manlsm  has  parted  with  the  character  of  catholicity  in  exchange 
for  that  of  pai'ticularity.'f 

II.   The  Prospective  Aspect  of  th^  Reformation  ;  or  the  Protes- 
tant Principle  in  its  ^positive  force. 

With  this  proposition,  we  have  already  touched  upon  the  se- 
cond essential  constituent  of  the  Reformation,  according  to 
which  it  is  to  be  viewed  as  a  historical  advance  on  the  part  of  the 
Church  ;  a,nd,in  the  closest  connection  with  the  pressure  of  pre-, 
vious  long  accumulating  want,  a  new  birth  from  the  womb  of  its 
life  in  the  old  form,.  The  subject  however  in  this  aspect,  calls  . 
now  for  closer  elucidation,  in  a  direct  way. 

It  must  be  remarked,  in  the  fir§t  place,  that  when  we  speak  of 
advance  or  prpgress  her^,  we.  dp  so  with  reference  only  to  the 
previous  apprehension  of  Christianity  in  the  Churchy  and  not  to  . 
Christianity  itself,  as  exhibited  ,  in  its  original  and  , for  all  times 
absolutely  normal  character  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Our  comparison  of  the  relation  of  the  Evangelical  Church 
to  the  Roman  Catholic,  with  the  relation  of  Christianity  to  Juda- 
ism, must  be  taken  therefore  with  a  material  limitation.  Chris- 
tianity stands  related  to  Judaism,  not  simply  as  fulfilment  to  pre-, 
sentiment,  enlargement  to  compression,  substance  to  shadow  ;  but 
is  at  the  same  time  specifically  a  new  creation.  No  expansion 
simply  of  the  idea  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  such,  was  sufficient 
for  its  production.  This  could  take  place  only  by  the  creative 
act  of  God,  in  his  incarnation,  his  life,  sufferings,  death  and  re- 
surrection,  as  God  and  man  in  one  person,  and  in  the  real  and  full 
communication  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  had  irradiated  the  hu- 
man consciousness  before  only  in  a  transient  and  sporadic  way. 
Beyond  Christianity  itself  however,  as  thus  introduced  into  the 
world,  there  can  be  no  similar  advance.  Our  faith  must  be  sub- 
verted in  its  very  ground,  if  now  that  Christ  has  appeared,  "the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,"  and  given  his  Spirit  to  the  apos- 
tles to  "lead  llw)m  into  all  truth,"  we  should  allow  ourselves  to  ex- 
pect, like  the  Jews,  a  still  higher  revelation.  In  its  own  nature, 
as  a  new  order  of  life,  Christianity  has  been  complete  t>om  the 
beginning  ;  and  there  is  no  room  to  conceive  that  any  more  per- 
fect order  can  ever  take  its  place,  or  that  it  may  be  so  improved 
as  in  the  end  to ,  outgrow,  entirely  its  own  original  sphere.  •  But 

\  Compare,  on  the  difference  between  Catholicism  and  Romanism, 
tny  articlea  in  the  JJterar.  Zeitun^  of  BexWuy  1843,  N.  87  and  No.  100,. 


51 

uotvvithstanding  this,  we  are  authorised  to  speak  of  advance  or 
progress  in  the  case  of  "the  Church  itself,  and  on  the  part  of  the 
chrfstianized  world  ;  and  of  this  not  merely  a§  extensive,  in  the  > 
spread  of  the  gospel  annong  Pagans,  Mohammedans  and  Jews  ; 
but  as  intensive  also  in  the  continually  growing  cultivation  and 
improvement  of  those  four  great  interests  of  the  Church,  doctrine, 
life,  constitution,  and  worship.  The  Church,  not  less  than  every 
ojie  of  its  members,  has  its  periods  of  infancy,  youth,  manhood, 
and  old  age.  This  involves  no  contradiction  to  the  absolute 
character  of  Christianity  ;  for  the  progress  of  the  Church,  out- 
ward or  inward,  is  never  in  the  strict  sense  creative,  but  in  the 
way  only  of  reception,  organic  assimilation  and  expansion.  In 
other  words,  all  historical  development  in  the  Church,  theoretical 
and  practical,  consists  in  an  apprehension  always  more  and  more 
profound  of  the  life  and  doctrine  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  an 
appropriation,  more  full  and  transforming  always  of  their  dis- 
tinctive spirit,  both  as  to  its  contents  and  its  form^  Only  so  far 
as  a  doctrine  or  ordinance  of  the  Church  bears  this  character,  may 
it  be  allowed  to  have  normative  and  enduring  force.  If  it  could 
be  clearly  shown  for  instance,  that  the  doctrines  of  the  trinity  and. 
the  two  natures  in  Christ,  as  dogmatically  developed  and  symbol- 
ically established  in  opposition  to  heretical  errors  in  the  Fourth 
and  Fifth  Centuries,  are  not  contained  so  far  as  substance  is  con- 
cerned in  the  New  Testament,  but  contradict  it  rather,  their  au- 
thority must  fall  before  the  culture  of  the  age,  to  make,  room  for  a  . 
different  rview  in  consonance  witbthe  scriptures.. 

In  this  sense  then,  the  Reformation  is  an  advance,  not  of  i^ 
Christianity  itself,  but  of  its  tenure  at  least  upon  the  conscious- 
ne'ss  of  the  Christian  world.  We  may  bring  forward  indeed 
many  passages  from  the  writings  of  Augustike,  Anselm,  Bern-  v^ 
AED  OF  Clairvaux,  and  other  men  occupying  a  position  near  to 
the  Reformers,  which  seem  to  teach  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification by  grace  ;  and  it  may  be  affirmed  with  truth,  that  all 
real  christians,  from  the  beginning,  had  lived  upon  this  doctrine 
at  bottom,  unconsciously  to  themselves.  But  still  their  piety,  in 
its  general  character,  must  be  admitted  to  carry  with  it  more  or 
less  of  a  legal  complexion.  Only  in  single,  exalted  moments  of 
ftieir  existence  at  best,  were  they  enabled  to  lay  hold  of  the  free- 
dom, the  assurance  of  salvation,  and  full  triumphant  faith,  to 
which  we  have  been  raised  by  the  Reformation.  This  merit  at 
least  belongs  to  the  Reformers,  that  they  have  brought  into  clear 
consciousness  what  existed  only  darkly  before  in  the  soul,  and 
have  made  that  to  be  common  property  in  the  Church  which  had 
belonged  previously  only  to  single  and  highly  gifted  individuals. . 


52 

On  the  other  hand,  when  we  bring  the  soteriological  ground  prin-- 
ciple  of  the  Reibrmaiion  into  the  light  of  the  New  Testament,-, 
particularly  the  epistles  of  Paul,  we  lind  it  ratified  here  with  such 
clear  and  distinct  enunciation,  that  we  are  ready  to  wonder  why 
the  Church  should  not  have  come  to  the  knovvled";e  of  it  a  great 
while  sooner.  But  to  penetrate  from  the  surface  into  the  depth, 
from  the  shell  to  the  kernel,  is  something  far  more  difficult  than 
it  seems  ;  a  work  belonging  to  God's  chosen  instruments,  the 
architects  of  the  world's  history,  the  wakers  of  slumbering  cen- 
turies. 

The  new  vital  principle  of  the  Reforraatioa,  as  compared  with 
the  form  in  which  Christianity  had  been  held  previously,  is  not  to. 
be  sought  in  the  sphere  of  the  objective,  more  theoretic  doctrines  ; 
such  for  instance  as  the  trinity,  the  incarnation,  or  the  relation 
of  the  divine  cuid  human  natures  in  the  person  of  Christ.  These 
it  incorporated  into  itself  rather,  as  they  had  been  previously  per-- 

v'fected  by  the  great  oecumenical  councils,  asserting  and  maintain- 
ing thus  its  catholic  interest  in   the  true  spiritual  acquisitions  of 
the  ancient  Church.     On  the  contrary,  the  Sixteenth   Century 

ywas  the  classic  period  for  the  full  exposition  of  the  Christiansen 
teriology,  as  standing  in  the  subjective  appropriation  of  the  work, 
of  redemption.  The  re-appearance  of  Unitarian  and  Arian  errors 
at  the  time,  must  be  considered,  a  mere  accidental  excrescence,, 
such  as  we  find  attending  every  great  historical  occasion.  The; 
essential,  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  then  fall 
within  a  sphere,  which  had  not  previously  been  occupied  by  the 
decision  of  any  general  council,  as  in  the  case  of  the  trinity  and 
the  constitution  of  Christ's  person,  and  where  accordingly  it  was 
possible  to  advance  new  scriptural  statements,  without  contradic- 
ting the  true  Catholic  Church.  The  movement  in  this  view  w^as 
not  an  efibrt,  to  overthrow  and  reconstruct  the  work  of  this 
Church,  in  the  case  of  its  great  cardinal  doctrines  as  already  pos- 
itively defined  by  the  general  councils  ;  but  to  carry  forward 
and  complete  that  work  rather,  by  going  on  to  define  and  settle 
what  had  not  yet  been  made  the  subject  of  action,  in  the  same  pos- 
itive style.  As  little  may  -we  say,  that  the  Reformation  stood 
essentially  in  an  effort  to  subvert  the  papacy  and  hierarchy  ;  al- 
though this  is  often  affirmed.  Those  who  regard  it  in  this  light, 
do  not  consider  that  Luther  had  already  uttered  his  positive  life 
principle,  before  he  thought  of  a  breach  with  the  pope  ;  and  that 
much  later  even  Melanctiion,  ,  in  subscribing  the  Articles 'of 
Smalcald,  professed  himself  willing  to  accept  the  pope,  as  dejurc 
hiimano  head  of  the  Church.  Such  a  principle  besides  would  give 
no  distinction  between  th3.  Protestant  Church  and  the  Greek,  or 


common  sects  even,  which  all  agree  in  rejecting  the  primacy  of 
Rome  to  the  same  extent.  The  great  point  was,  to  eradicate 
popedom  from  the  heart  itself,  which  is  too  prone,^away  from  all 
connection  with  Rome,  to  make  an  idol  of  mere  human  authority, 
in  forms  that  may  appear  more  plausible  perhaps,  bat  are  often 
more  intolerably  tyrannic  on  this  very  account. 

Still  more  prevalent  is  the  view,  by  which  the  essence  of  the 
Reformation  is  placed  in  the  emancipation  of  the  human  mind 
subjectively  considered  ;  that  is,  in  the  triumphant  assertion  of 
the  liberty  of  faith  and  conscience,  as  well  as  of  unlimited  scientif- 
ic inquiry.  Rightly  understood  this  to  be  sure  has  its  truth  ;  but 
as  commonly  represented,  it  is  a  sheer  caricature  of  history.  It 
is  made  to  mean  very  often,  for  instance,  a  full  liberation  of  the 
subject  from  every  sort  of  restraint,  the  overthrow  of  all  authority^ 
as  such.  But  of  such  escape  from  discipline  and  rule,  the  Refor- 
mers had  no  thought.  Their  object  was  rather  to  bind  man  to 
the  grace  of  God,  and  to  lead  his  conscience  captive  to  God's 
word.  In  every  vjew,  the  act-  of  protesting  is  not  the  first  and 
main  constituent  in  the  Reformation,  but  the,  result  only  of  a  pos- 
itive affirmation  going  before.  This  last  accordingly  is  the  great 
point,  from  which  alone  its  true  importance  springs.  Only  in. 
connection  with  such  an  original  positive  life  principle,  and  as 
flowing  from  it,  can  deliverance  from  the  papacy,  and  the  restitu- 
tion of  private  judgment  to  its  rights,  find  any  right  sense,  any 
religious  value.  Apart  from  this  connection,  they  fall  over  to  the 
province  qf  infidelity,  with  which  the  Reformation  has  nothing  \ 
to  do. 

<-. 

Such  a  positive  religious  principle  now,  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
exclusive  authority  of  the  sacred  scriptures  as  a  rule  of  faith  ;  and 
it  is  a  very  current  idea,  particularly  in  the  Reformed  Church,<»^ 
that  this  doctrine  forms  the  proper  centre  and  root  of  Protestan- 
tism. \But  this  also  we  cannot  admit,  although  the  Christian  life 
of  the  Reformers  was  shaped  from  the  beginning  by  the  scrip- 
tures. For  this  principle  is  formal  only,  and  so  secondary,  pre- 
supposing the  presence  of  a  definite  substance  which  it  must  in- 
clude. In  order  that  the  scriptures  may  be  taken  as  the  exclusive  < 
source  and  measure  of  Christian  truth,  it  is  necessary  that  the 
faith  in  Christ  of  which  they  testify  should  be  already  at  hand, 
that  their  contents  should  have  been  made  to  live  in  the  heart  by 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  accompanying  the  word  and  the 
vChurch.  And  so  all  turns  upon  the  particular  constitution  of^ 
this  faith.  The  Socinians,Swedenborgeans,  later  Unitarians,  and 
qther  sects,  made  the  same  strenuous  appeal  to  the  scriptures  as.. 


54^ 

their  only  authority  ;  but  they  stood  quite  ofi^from  the  true  living 
ground  of  the  Reformation  noiwilhstanding,  and  <>ave  accordingly 
a  wholly   different  sense  to  the  bible,  in  tiie  most  weighty  points. 

'l.  Material  Principle. 

That  we  may  come  to  the  farthest  source  then,  we  must  inquire 
after  the  material  or  life  principle  (principium  essendi)  of  the 
Reformation.  This,  according  to  history,  is  no'olher  than  the 
great  doctrine,  which  is  presented  by  Paul  especially  as  the  entire 
i-um  of  the  gospel  ;  the  doctrine  ol"the  justification  of  the  sinner 
before  God  by  the  merit  of  Christ  alone  through  faith.  This 
doctrine  was  the  fruit  of  Luther's  earnest  spiritual  conflicts  al- 
ready noticed  ;  and  it  formed  the  proper  soul,  the  jjolar  star  and 
centre,  of  his  life,  from  the  commrncement  of  his  reformatory 
career  on  to  his  last  breath.*  The  Romish  Church  may  be  said 
to  urge  precisely  her  most  earnest  and  pious  members  always  to- 
wards this  point  ;  as  we  see  in  the  case  of  the  J'ansenists,  con- 
demned indeed  by  the  pope,  and  in  our  own  day  in  such  men  as 
Sailer,  Yeith,   Gossner,   Boos,   and  others.     For  all  earnest 


*  Hence  he  says  himself  in  the  Articles  of  Smalcald,  p.  305  (Edi- 
tion of  the  Symb.  Books  by  Ha$e)  :  De  hoc  artioiilo  cedere  aut  aliquid* 
contra  ilium  larg'iri  aut  penijittere  nemopiorum  potest,  etiamsi  coelnm 
et  terra  et  omnia  corruant.  Non  enim  est  aliud  nomen  hominibus 
datum,  per  quod  salvari  possimu.s,  (inquit  Petnis,  Act.  4,  12.)  et 
per  vulnera  ejus  sanati  suaius  (Esaj.  53,  5.).  Et  in  hoc  articu/o 
aita  sunt  et  consiatunt  omnia,  quae  contra  Papam,  Diabolum,  et 
universum  mundum,  in  vita  nostra  docemus,  testamur  et  agimur. 
Quare  oportet  nos  de  hac  doctrina  esse  certos  et  minime  dubitare, 
aUoquin  actum  est prorsus,  et  Papa  et  diabolus  et  omnia  jus  et  victoriam  ' 
contra  nos  obtinent.- — Comp.  Form.  Cone.  p.  683.  and  Me/nncthon,  locus, 
de  grat.  el  justif.  where  he  says  of  the  doctrine  of  justification:  Hie 
locus  continet  summam  evangelii.  When  ihf  younger  Bengel,  (Ar- 
chiv  fuer  die  Theol.  Bd.,  1.  St.  2.  S.  469.)  and  the  celebrated  historian 
Planck,  (Worte  des  Friedens  an  die  kath.  Kirche,  1809,  p.  47  f.),  re- 
present the  whole  controversy  between  the  Protestants  and  Romanists 
on  the  doctrine  of  justification  as  of  no  vital  account,  a  mere  logomachy 
in  fact,  the  thing  finds  its  explanation  in  the  dogmatic  indifferentism 
of  the  age  to  which  these  men  belonged.  But  it  is  incomprehensible 
how  at  the  present  time,  when  the  diirerenoc  of  the  Confessions  has 
come  to  be  more  clearly  felt  again  in  a  recurrence  to  its  foundations, 
the  latest  protestant  expositor  of  the  catholic  systerti,  Koh-llneix,  (in 
his  otherwise  very  accurate  and  learned  S3'mbolik  der  heil.  apost. 
kath.  roemischen  Kirche.  Preface,  p.  XIX.)  should  affirm  the  same 
thing,  and  find  on  the  contrary  the  main  difference  in  the  outward  rela-^ 
tl'jns,  constitution  and  worship  of  the  two  Churches. 


55 

legal  wrestling  after  righteousness  and  holiness  leads  natural!)^ 
^t  last,  to  the  abandonment  of  every  fleshly  confidence,  and  a  re- 
liance on  God's  grace  alone.  It  was  this  doctrine  which  first 
made  the  scriptures  for  the  Reformers,  what  they  claimed  to  be  ; 
and  Luther,  it  is  known,  employed  it  as  a  measure  for  the  sa- 
cred canon  itself,  not  allowing  it  to  include  as  God's  normative 
word  any  thing  that  might  carry  an  opposite  sense.  His  harsh 
censures  on  certain  portions  of  the  established  Church  canon,  the 
Epistle  of  James,  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and  ihe  Revelation 
of  St.  John,  we  do  not  of  course  defend,  but  reject  them  rather  as 
one-sided  and  rash.  They  form  an  interesting  fact  however,  in 
illustration  of  the  point  immediately  in  hand,  the  posture  of  the 
doctrine  of  justification  relatively  to  the  great  reformatory  move- 
ment as  its  [rue  life  principle.  Pressed  as  he  was  by  his  Romish 
adversaries,  with  whom  James  especially  was  always  a  favorite 
authority,  Luther's  unfavorable  judgment  of  the  books  just 
named  arose  ^1  together  from  his  not  beincr  able  to  find  in  them  his 
cardinal  truth,  justification  by  faith  only.* 

It  devolves  upon  us  now  to  go  into  a  somewhat  closer  exami- 
nation of  this  material  principle  of  the  Reformation  ;  and  for  this 
purpose,  it  is  necessary  to  direct  our  view  first,  in  brief,  to  the 
oppo^ite  tenet  of  the  Romish  Church.  The  Christian  salvation 
rests  upon  the  primary  truth,  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  absolute  God- 
nrian  is  the  only  Redeemer  and  Mediator  between  man  as  a  sinner 
and  his  oflfended  Maker.  It  is  long  however  before  man  is 
brought  to  take  up  this  doctrine  in  its  full  import  into  his  con- 
sciousness, and  to  part  radically  with  the  Judaism  that  is  in  him 
from  his  birth.  So  we  find  it  in  the  experience  of  the  individual 
child  of  God  at  all  times  ;  and  so  it  has  been  with  the  life  of  the 
Church  as  a  whole,  from  the  bv-ginning.     In  the  Church  of  Rome, 

*  From  this  it  appears,  with  how  much  wrong  the  modern  negative 
criticism  makes  its  appeal  to  Luther's  example,  //e,  standing  in  the 
element  of  God's  unwritten  word,  and  animated  by  the  one  all  regula- 
ting principle  of  justification,  uttered  his  judgment  against  certain 
parts  of  the  canon  lianded  down  by  the  Church,  because  they  seemed 
to  him  to  be  in  contlict  with  that  word,  as  the  essence  of  the  gospel 
itself.  Luther's  criticism  in  one  word  was  the  action  of  faith  in  the 
free  grace  of  God  in  Christ,  against  all  human  distortion  of  the  truth. 
The  modern  criticism  of  a  Strauss  or  Bruno  Bauer  on  the  other  hand, 
in  full  reverse,  starts  from  unbelief  in  this  grace,  and  is  aimed  destruc- 
tively against  the  positive  ground  of  the  gospel  itself.  (Comp.  my  ar- 
ticles on  True  and  False  Criticism  in  the  Literar.  Zeitung  oi' Berlin, 
1843,  N.  40  and  N.  61.).  Let  any  one  read  Luther's  judgment  upon 
the  Epistle  of  James  continuously  in  Walch,  Vol.  14,  p.  148  f.  and  he 
will  be  fully  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  our  representation. 


5Q 

v^^ve  find  the  doctrine,  according  to  the  Council  of  Trent,  ac- 
knowledged objectively  and  in  thesi,^  but  always  laid  under  re- 
striction, as  soon  it  comes  to  a  particular  explanation  of  the  way, 
in  which  the  atonement  is  carried  over  into  the  life  of  its  subject, 
and  made  available  for  his  salvation.  In  opposition,  not  only  to 
Pelagianism,  but  to  Semipelagianism  also,  (which  may  be 
charged  indeed  upon  the  papal  bull,  Unigenitus,  A.  I).  1711, 
and  the  whole  practice  of  the  Church,  but  hot  on  the  Council  of 
Trent,)  she  teaches,  it  is  true,  that  the  grace  of  God,  as  gratia 
praeveniens,  commences  the  work  of  conversion  in  man,  by  call- 
ing him  to  the  salvation  which  is  in  Christ.*  In  her  view  how- 
ever, the  natural  condition  of  man  is  not  as  with  us,  a  state  of  pos- 
itive corruption,  but  holds  simply  in  the  absence  oi^  supernatural 
endowments,  as  defectus  justitiae  oi-iginaUs,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  a  mere  debilitation  of  the  natural  powers  of  reason  and  free- 
dom on  the  other  ;f  and  so  the  natural  man  is  made  to  take  part 
also  in  the  work  of  his  own  conversion  and  justification.     When 

-'the  power  towards  good,  which  is  still  in  him  though  debilitated 
by  original  sin,  is  again  set  free  and  invigorated  in  his  gracious 
calling,  he  disposes  himself,  we  are  told,  to  the  acquisition  of  justi- 
fication ;  so  that  God's  grace  (^gratia  operans)  and  the  human 
will  (voluntas  humana  cooperans)  work  now  in  conjunction,  the 
first  in  the  way  of  illumination,  and  the  other  freely  consenting 
and  moving  towards  God.ij:     As  the  result  of  this  twofold  action 

*  Cone.  Trid.  S.  VI.  c.  5.  6. 

■\  S.  VI.  deer.  I.  c.  1.  and  can.  4.  5.  7.  Bellarmine  consequently, 
(Disputt.  etc.  de  gratia  primi  hominis  I.  1.)  states  the  doctrine  of  his 
Church  correctly,  when  he  says:  Decent  enim  (catholici  Doctores), 
per  Adae  peccatara  totum  hominem  vere  deteriorem  esse  factum,  et  ta- 
men  nee  liberurn  arbitriuni  neque  alia  naturalia,  sed  solum  supernatura- 
lia  perdidisse.  And  what  he  remarks,  de  gratia  primi  horn.  c.  5.,  agrees 
with  this  fully  :  Quare  non  rnagis  differt  status  hominis  post  lapsum 
Adae  a  statu  ejusdem  in  puris  naturalibus,  quam  differat  spolialus  a 
nudo  ;  neque  deterior  est  humana  natura,  si  culpam  originalem  de- 
trahas,  neque  magis  ignorantia  et  infirmitate  laborat,  quam  esset  et  la- 
boraret  in  puris  naturalibus  condita.  Proinde  eorruptio  naturae  non  ex 
alicujus  doni  naturalis  carentia,  neque  ex  alicujus  malae  qualitatis  ac- 
cessu,  sed  ex  sola  doni  supernaturalis  ob  Adae  peccatum  amissione 
profluxit. 

■^  Cone.  Trid.  S.  VI.  can  4.  :  Si  quis  dixerit,  liberum  a'-bitrium  a  Deo 
motum  etexcitatnm  nihil  cnoperari  assentiendo  Deo  excitanti,et  vacant! 
quo  ad  obtincndam  justificaiioniii  grniiam  se  dispon'ol  ac  praeparet,  neque 
posse  dissentire,  si  velit,  sed  velut  inanimequoddam  nihil  omnino  agere, 
mereque  passive  se  habere  ;  anathema  sit.  In  the  5th  and  6th  cap.  of 
the  same  session,  this  is  made  the  subject  of  farther  positive  explicatioHo 


justification  in  due  time  takes  place,  not  suddenly  hdwever,  but    ^ 

gradually,  partly  by  faith,  and  partly  by  works  of  love.  For  V^ 
justification  here,  agreeably  to  the  etymology  of  the  word  indeed, 
but  against  both  classical  and  biblical  use,  is  taken  to  mean  ma- 
lting righteous  in  the  proper  sense  ;  whence  it  is  made  the  same 
substantially  with  sanctijication,  and  regarded  as  a  property  re- 
siding in  the  man  personally, ^ws^i/m  inhaerens  or  infiisa.*  The 
objective  ground  of  justification,  according  to  the  Council  of  k^ 
Trent,  is  in  every  view  the  propitiatory  death  of  Christ  ;  but  the 
apprehension  of  it  is  not  by  faith  alone.  This  has  justifying  pow- 
er only  so  far  as  it  is  the  beginning  of  salvation,  the  root  of  justi. 
fication,  humanae  salulis  initium,  fundamentum  et  radix  omnis 
justificationis.'\  Full  justification  however  it  cannot  effect,  if  it 
were  only  for  the  reason,  that  in  the  Romish  view  of  it,  differing 
from  the  evangelical,  it  is  exhibited  prevailingly  as  simple  histori- 
cal assent.:):  The  grace  becomes  complete  only  by  means  of  *^ 
good  works  flowing  ftom  faith  ;  and  has  different  degrees  accor- 
dingly answerable  to  the  character  and  number  of  these  works. § 
In  this  way  a  proper  merit  is  held  to  belong  to  such  works  ;  a 
meritum  de  congruo,  as  they  speak,  to  those  which  precede  justi- 
fication, and  a  meritum  de  condigno  to  those  which  follow.|| 

*  S.  VI.  cap.  7.  Hanc  dispositionemseu  praeparationem  justificatio 
ipsa  consequitar,  quae  non  est  sola  peccatorum  remissio,  sed  et  samti-^ 
fficatio  et  renovatio  interioris  hominis  per  voluntariam  susceptionem  gra- 
tiae  et  donorum,  unde  homo  ex  injusto  Jit  Justus  et  ex  inimico  amicus,  ut 
sit  haeres  secundum  spem  vitae  aeternae.     Comp.  can.  16. 

f  S.  VI.  cap.  8.  Comp.  can.  9,  11,  and  12.  In  the  9th  can.  it  is 
said  :  Si  quis  dixerit,  sola  fide  impium  justificari,  ita  ut  intelligrat  nihil 
aliud  requiri,  quod  ad  justificationis  gratiam  consequendam  cooper etur  ei 
nulla  ex  parte  necesse  esse  eum  suae  voluntatis  motu  praeparari  atque 
disponi ;  anathema  sit. 

X  S.  VI.  cap.  6.  credentes  vera  esse,  quae  divinitus  revelata  at  pro- 
missa  sunt.  Comp.  Cat.  Rom.  I.  1.1.:  Nos  de  ea  fide  loquimur,  cu- 
jus  vi  omnino  assentimur  lis,  quaetradita  sunt  divinitus.  Bellarmine^ 
de  justific.  I,  4.     Catholic!  fidem  in  intelledu  sedem  habere  volunt. 

§  S.  VI.  cap.  10.  Sic  ergo  justificati  et  amici  Dei  acdomestici  facti^ 
euntes  de  virtute  in  virtutem,  renovantur,  ut  apostolus  inquit,  de  die  in 
diem  ;  h.  e.,  mortificando  membra  carnis  suae  et  exhibendo  ea  arma 
justitiae  in  sanctificationem,  per  observationem  mandatorum  Dei  et  ec- 
clesiae,  in  ipsa  justitia  per  Christi  gratiam  accepta,  cooperante  fide, 
bonis  operibus  crescunt  atque  magis  justificantur.  Comp.  can.  13.  14 
and  24.  In  the  last  it  is  said  :  Si  quis  dixerit,  justitiam  acceptam  non 
conservari  atque  etiam  augeri  coram  Deo  per  bona  opera.,  sed  opera  ipsa 
fructus  solummodo  et  signa  esse  justificationis  adeptae,  non  autem  ipsi 
us  augendae  causam  ;  anathema  sit. 

|]  Comp,  on  the  way  in  which  this  doctrine  was  carried  out  by  the 

5 


^ 


V/Practically  however  this  co-oraination  simply  of  faith  and  works, 
as  producing  justification,  cannot  be  preserved  ;  but  the  chief 
weight  must  be  given  to  the  last ;  since  they  can  be  multiplied 
indefinitely,  coming  thus  under  the  category  of  number  and  quan- 
tity, whilst  faiih  is  one  act  properly  flowing  over  into  a  continuous 
state.  The  Romish  Church  accordingly  has  carried  her  estimate 
of  human  virtue  so  far,  that  she  not  only  holds  a  jt9ey/ec<  fulfil- 
ment of  the  law  to  be  possible  ;*  but  in  broad  opposition  to  that 
sciiplure.  When  ye  have  done  all,  say,  We  are  vnprofitable  ser- 
vants, has  to  tell  even  of  a  surplus  meritoriousness  of  good  works, 
her  so  called  opera  supererogationis,  in  which  a  man  may  do 
more  than  his  duty,  and  raise  himself  to  the  character  of  a  saint. 
Such  supermerilorious  works  are  deposited  in  the  treasury  or 
fund  of  the  Church,  which  has  the  right  to  dispose  of  the  trust  at 
pleasure,  and  may  employ  it  to  cover  the  sins  of  less  advanced 
y/  Christians,  or  of  souls  even  that  have  already  passed  into  purga- 
tory.f  Hence  sprang  the  traffic  in  indulgences,  the  abomination 
that  gave  the  first  shock"  to  the  moral  sensibilities  of  Ltjther. 
In  this  scandalous  trade,  that  which  forms  the  inmost  sanctuary 
of  man's  life,  the  pardon  of  sm  and  holiness,  was  put  to  sale  for 
the  most  paltry  and  outward  of  ail  interests,  money.  The  pro- 
fits thus  made  were  applied  to  the  building  of  St.  Peter's  church, 


scholastics,   the  notices  famished  in  Koellner's  SymboUk  der  heil. 
apost.  kath.  roeinischen  Kirche.     Hamburg  1814.  p.  325  fF. 

*  Cone.  Trid.  S.  VI.  cap.  16. 

I  The  Cone.  Trid.  indeed  does  not  utter  itself  clearly  on  this  point, 
(Comp.  however  S.  VI.  cap.  11.  can.  18  and  32.  S.  XXI.  de  reform,  c. 
•J.)  ;  and  it  is  remarkable,  that  the  Cat.  Bam.  has  not  a  word  on  the 
subject.  But  the  doctrine  had  already  become  complete  with  the  scho- 
lastics, ])articularly  Thomas  Aquinas  ;  and  the  Council  informs  us,  S. 
XXV.  deer,  dc  indulg.,  that  it  was  to  be  held  agreeably  to  the  authori- 
ties, and  only  the  practical  abuses  of  it  to  be  put  away.  The  Roman 
Catholic  divines  accordingly  bring  it  forward  without  reserve.  Comp. 
Bellarmi.ne  de  indnlg.  I.  1.  Kxstat  in  Ecclesia  thesaurus  satisfactio- 
num  ex  Christi  passionibus  irifinitus,  qui  nunquam  exhauriri  poterit. — 
Jid  httnc  tliesarum  superjiacntium  saiisfactionuin  perlineid  etiam  passiones 
b.  Marine,  mrginisc'.  omnium  uliorum  sanctorum,  qui  plus passi sunt,  quam 
corum peccatarequirerent. — cap.  14.  Res  certissima  est  et  apud  catho- 
licos  indubitata,  indulgentiis  juvari  posse  animas,  quae  in  nurgatorio 
poenas  luunt.  Theologians  of  more  evangelical  views  in  the  Romish 
Church,  such  as  Hirscher,  regard  indulgences,  to  befuire,  as  the  regu- 
lar continuation  simply  of  the  early  penitential  discipline,  a  remnant  of 
the  old  Church  punishments.  But  the  whole  practice  of  the  Church 
serves  to  confirm  the  other  view. 


ta  gratify  the  ai^ition  of  the  popes.  But  the  completion  of  this 
dome,  whose  Sixline  chapel  Michael  Angelo  had  decorated  with 
the  sceno  of  the  Last  Judgment,  might  be  said  to  have  brought 
with  it  at  the  same  time  the  last  judgment  for  the  Romish  Church 
itself,  thus  fallen  into  the  arms  of  the  world. 

Where  full  justification  is  thus  made  to  depend  on  the  fluctua- 
ting subjective  ground  of  human  works  and  merit,  it  is  impossible, 
on  the  other  side,  for  a  Christian,  however  honest  and  humble,  to 
attain  to  any  certainty  of  his  salvation  ;  and  all  such  assurance 
is  expressly  condemned  accordingly  by  the  Council  of  Trent,  un- 
less as  it  may  be  the  product  of  a  special  revelation.*  Thus  it 
happens  very  generally,  that  the  piety  of  precisely  the  most  excel- 
lent and  earnest  members  of  this  Church,  carries  with  it  a  legal, 
fettered,  anxious  character,  that  never  allows  them  to  come  to  ihe 
full  joy  of  faith,  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  The 
farther  the  man  advances,  the  more  he  sees  and  feels  what  is  still 
"Wanting  ;  while  such  as  can  be  satisfied  with  themselves,  only 
show  the  absence  of  all  right  judgment  and  feeling  by  this  fact. 
Such  self-righteonsness  no  doubt  is  much  more  common  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  than  rigid  self-probation  or  self-knowl- 
edge. 

The  Tridentine  view  then  of  this  most  momentous  dogma,  in 
which  all  subjective  Christianity  is  comprehended,  is  fairly  charge- 
able with  the  following  serious  defects.  1.  A  very  superficial 
knowledge  of  human  sinfulness;,  in  affirming  a  dispositio,  prae- 
paratio  and  cooperatio,  on  the  part  of  man,  as  necessarily  pre- 
ceding and  making  way  for  justification.  2.  A  confounding  of 
jusfificaiio  with  sanctificatio,  in  the  conception  of  the  central  idea 
itself.  3.  A  most  insufficient  representation  of  the  nature  of  faith. 
4.  An  over-valuation  of  good  works  after  conversion,  investing  the 
whole  Christian  life  with  a  pelagianistic  complexion.  5.  Lastly, 
an  entire  want  of  evangelical  freedom  and  assurance. 

Now  in  all  these  points,  which  are  inseparably  connected  with 
the  doctrine  of  justification  itself,  the  Protestant  system,  both  as 
Lutheran  and  orthodox  Reformed,  exhibits  a  greater  depth  of 
Christian  consciousness,  and  an  advance  consequently  upon  the 
soteriology  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  doctrine  as  it  stands  in  this 
system  presupposes  necessarily  a  much  more  thorough  knowledge 
of  sin,  the  guilt  of  which  is  to  be  taken  away  by  justification.  The 
natural  state  of  man,  or  his  original  pravity,  is  viewed  not  simply 
as  a  debilitation  of  the  moral  powers,  egestas  nafuralisjjustitiae 


Sess.  VL  cap.  9.  and  1^.  and  can.  13 — 16. 


60 

debitae  rmditas,  as  Thomas  Aquinas  expresses  it ;  but  as  a  rear 
corruption  of  these  powers,  of  such  sort,  that  before  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  new  life-giving  principle  into  his  person,  so  far  as  ajus- 
titia  spiritvalis  is  concerned  on  which  all  turns  in  the  case,  he  is. 
unable  to  produce  fronn  himself  anything  that  is  good.  After  the 
will  has  once  made  choice  of  evil,  it  is  no  longer  free,  no  longer 
an  undecided  liherum  arbitrium  ;  but  on  the  contrary,  it  is  filled 
with  the  contents  of  evil,  sold  under  its  power,  and  thus  an  object 
of  divine  wrath.*  The  only  disposition  then  which  Protestan- 
tisnn  can  require,  and  in  fact  does  require,-]-  as  a  prerequisite  to 
justification,  is  the  consciousness  of  guilt  awakened  by  the  judi- 
cial function  of  the  law,  that  "schoolmaster  to  Christ,"  and  groun- 
ded on  this  the  felt  need  of  redemption,  which  is  still  included  in 
our  nature  in  spite  of  its  corruption,  and  without  which  indeed 
redemption  could  have  no  place.  This  repentance  and  desire 
however  are  so  little  operative  and  meritorious  as  it  regards  justi- 
fication, that  they  form  rather  the  sense  of  complete  unworthi- 
ness,  the  feeling  of  absolute  emptiness  and  want,  resembling  bo- 
dily hunger,  which  craves  food,  but  has  no  power  to  satisfy  its 
own  call. 

The  renovation  of  the  sinner  can  proceed  only  from  the 
creative  grace  of  God.  If  the  divine  goodness,  in  the  first  crea-. 
tion,  formed  for  itself  its  own  object,  this  is  necessary  much  more 
in  redemption,  where  its  object  is  in  the  first  place  its  opposite 
also  and  enemy  {Rom.  5  :  10.).  Not  the  love  we  bear  to  God, 
but  the  love  with  which  he  has  loved  us  in  Christ,  is  the  ground  of 
our  salvation  (1  Jo/t«4:  10.).  This  love  accordingly  has  pre- 
vented us  ;  it  has  borne  all  sin  and  expiated  all  guilt  in  our  steady 

*  That  the  tract  may  not  be  unduly  extended,  we  must  limit  our- 
selves mostly  to  mere  references,  leaving  the  reader  to  consult  the  proof, 
passages  for  himself,  as  every  protestant  divine  at  any  rate  should  have 
them  within  reach.  We  cite  the  Lutheran  symbols,  from  the  edition 
of  Hase  (Libri  Symbolici,  1837),  the  Reformed,  as  published  by  Nie- 
MEYER,  (CoUectio  Confessionum  in  Ecclesiis  Jieformatis  publicatarum, 
1840.).  On  original  sin,  and  the  whole  state  of  the  unregenerate,  see 
Confcssin  Augustuna,  art.  2.  (p.  9  sq.),  Jpolugia  Cmifessionis,  art.  I.  de 
peccato  origin,  (p.  50  sqq.),  Jriiculi  Smulcaldici^  III,  1.  (p.  317  sq.)  ; 
on  the  Reformed  side,  Confessio  HclveticaW.  c.  8.  9.  (p.  477  sqq.),  Cnte- 
chismus  Meidelbcrgensis^  quaest.  7.  8.  (p.  431.),  Jirticuli  Jinglicani^  art. 
9  (p.  603.),  Curifessio  Gallkuna,  art.  10.  11.  (p.  332.),  Confessio  Be/gica, 
art.  15  (p.  370.),  Cunfessio  Scoticana^  I.  art.  3  (p.  342.),  Canones  Si/nndi 
Dordrechtanaej  cap.  3.  art.  1 — 3.  (p.  708  sq.),  Cunfessio Jidei  Westmorv- 
asterienses  sive  Furitanae,  c.  6.  §.  1 — G.  c.  9.  §.  1 — 5. 

f  Comp.,  tor  example,  Formula  Concordiae  V.  de  lege  et  evangelio 
(p.  711.) 


61 

bc»t  fulfilled  at  the  same  time  all  righteousness,  as  required  by 
the  law,  that  is  the  published  will  of  God.  This  all  suffi;.-ient 
satisfaction  of  Christ  takes  hold  upon  the  individual  subjeciively, 
in  justification.  This  is  a  judicial,  declarative  act  on  the  part  of 
God,  by  which  he  first  pronounces  the  sin-crushed,  contrite  sinner 
free  from  guilt  as  it  regards  the  past,  for  the  sake  of  his  Only 
Begotten  Son,  and  then,  (iVeely,  Rom.  3  :  24.,  without  the  deeds 
of  the  law,  v.  2,8,.  by  grace,  through  faith,  and  not  of  himself 
Eph.  2  .  8.)  makes  over  to  him,  in  boundless  mercy,  the  full 
righteousness  of  the  same,  to  be  counted  and  to  be  in  fact  his 
own.  It  is  in  this  way,  1.  negatively  remissio  peccatorum  (Ps. 
32  :  12.  Rom.  3  :  25.  4  :.  7.  Luke  11  :  4.  2  Cor.  5  :  19.)  and 
2.  positively  imputatio  justitiae  and  adoptio  in  Jilios  Dei  (Rom. 
4  :  5.  5  ;  9.  2  Cor.  5  :  21.  Gal.  3:6.  Phil..  3  :  9.).  Man  by 
justification  steps  into  the  place  of  Christ,  as  Christ  had  previously 
stepped  into  the  place  of  man.  What  he  did  altogether,  he  did 
not  for  himself,  but  out  of  free  self-sacrificing  love  towards  the 
human  race,  of  which  he  is  the  head.* 

In  this  way,  all  pelagian  and  semipelagian  self-righteousness  is 
torn  up  by  the  routs  ;  humility  is  exhibited  as  the  ground  ofpiety  ; 
and  all  rightfid  honor  is  secured  to  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  only  and 
all  sufficient  Mediator  between  God  and  man. 


.         _  4.   (p.  10.),  ^pol.  Conf.  art.  2;.(p.  71  sqq.),  Form. 

Cone.  art.  3.  (p.  G83  sqq.)  :  Unanimi  consensu  credimus,  docemns  et 
confitemnr....,  quod  homo  peccator  coram  Deo  justificetur,  h.  e.  absol- 
vatur  ab  omnibus  suis  peccatis  et  a  judicio  justissimae  conderanationis, 
et  adoptetur  in  numerum  filiorum  Dei,  .atque  haeres  aeternae  vitae  scri- 
batur,  sine  ullis  nostris  meritis  aul  dignitate,  et  absque  ullis  praeceden- 
tibus  aut  sequentibus  nostris  operibus,  ex  mera  oratia  tantummodo, 
propter  unicum  raeritum  peifectissimamque  obed'ientiam,  passionem 
acerbissimam,  mortem  et  resurrectionem   Dcm.   nostri   J.  Chr.,  cujus 

obedientia  nobis   ad  justitiam  imputatvir Reformed  symbols  : 

Conf.Hdv.  c.  15.  (p.  494  sqq.)  Justificare  significat  Apostolo  in  dis- 
putatione  de  justifications,  peccata  remittere,  a  culpa  et  poene  absol- 
vere,  in  gratiam  recipereet  justum  pronuntiareetc.  Cat.  Hddelb.  quaest 
60.  (p.  443.)...  ut...  sine  uUo  meo  merito  (Rom.  3  :  24.)  ex  mera  Dei 
misericordia  (Tit.  3  :  5.  Eph.  2  :  8,  9.)  mihi  perfecta  satisfactio  (1 
John  2  :  2.),  justitia  et  sanctitas  Christi  (1  John  2  :  1.)  imputetur  ac 
donetur  (Rom.  4  :  4,  5.  2  Cor.  5  :  19.),  perinde  ac  si  nee  nllum  ipse 
peccatum  admississem,  nee  ulla  mihi  labes  inhaereret,  imo  vere  quasi 
earn  obedientam,  quam  pro  me  Christus  praestitit,  ipse  perfects  praesfi- 
tissem  (2  Cor.  5  :  21.) — a  most  clear,  complete  and  valuable  definition. 
Art.  Anglic,  art.  11,  12.  (p.  603  sq.),  Conf.  Gallic,  art.  18.  (p.  334.V 
Conf.  Belg.  art.  22.  (p.  374.),  Conf .  Scot.  art.  12.  (p.  346.),  i}ec/a??, 
Thorun.  de  gratia  (p.  673.),  Can.  Syn.  Dordr.  III,c.  10.  (p.  710.),  Cmp 
Jid.  Westmun.  cap.  U,  de  justif.  §  1—6,  and  c.  12.. 

6* 


62 

Whilst  the  merit  of  Christ  is  thus  viewed  as  the  only  ground,  the  . 
efficient  cause  (causa  efficiens  and  emeritoria)  of  this  righteous- 
ness, the  only  means  of  its  appropriation,  [causa  instrunientalis, 
instrumentum,   organon    lepticon,)  is    presented  to  us  in  faith. 

^  This  is  not  a  natural  product  of  man,  although  it  finds  a  basis  in 
the  possibility  and  want  of  redemption  belonging  to  his  fallen  na- 
ture ;  but  the  free  gift  of  God,  which  is  offered  and  imparted 
to  him  through  the  word  and  sacraments.*  Nor  is  it  moreover, 
^ns  regarded  in  the  Romish  system,  (and  this  is  a  very  essential 
point,)  a  mere  historical  assent,  and  so  a  theoretic  process  simply  ,* 
but  along  with  this,  and  principally,  a  cordial  unconditional  trust 
in  the  atoning  efficacy  of  Christ's  merit,  a  personal  appropriation 
of  it  to  the  entire  spiritual  life  of  the  subject-f     It  holds,  back  of 

y  the  psychological  distinction  of  understanding  and  will,  in  the 
inmost  depth  of  man's  personality,  and  so  works  with  like  in- 

•\  fluence  upon  bothr^VThe  later  protestant  theologians  tried  accor- 
dingly to  exhaust  the  conception  of  faith,  as  much  as  might  be, 
under  three  characters.     The  first  is  notitia,  the  knowledge  of  its 

*  Conf.  Aug.  V.  p.  11.     Nam  per  verbum  et  sacramenta,  tamquam 
per  instrumenta,  donatur  Spiritus  sanctus,  qui  fidem  efficit,  ubi  et  quan- 

do  visum  est  Deo,  in  iis,  qui  audiunt  evangelium,  etc. Conf.  Ilelv. 

art.  16.  (p.  496.)  Haec  autem  fides  merum  est  Dei  donum,  quod  solus 
Deus  ex  gratia  sua  electis  suis,  secundum  mensuram,  etquando,  cai  et 
quantum  ipse  vult,  donat,  et  quidem  per  spiritum  sanctum,  mediante 
praedicatione  evangelii  et  oratione  fideli. 

f  Besides  the  passages  already  cited,  comp.  Conf.  Jug.  art.  2,0. 
(p.  18.).  More  fully  in  his  Loci  theologici,  p.  226.  (ed.  of  1562.)  Me.- 
LANCTHON  describes  the  nature  of  faith,  first  as  an  assentiri  universo 
verbo  divino,  and  fartlier  as  a  fiducia  misericordiae  Bei,  and  then  pro-  , 
ceeds  :  Fiducia  est  mo^us  m  voluntate,  necessario  respondens  assensio- 
ni,  seu  quo  voluntas  in  Christo  acquiescit.  Comp.  Calvin's  Instil,  chr. 
rel.  III.  2,  8.  Conf  Helv.  II.  art.  16.  (p.  496.)  Fides  Christiana  non 
est  opinio  et  humana  persuasio,  sed  frmissimafducia  et  evidens  ac  con- 
dans  animi  assensus,  denique  cerlissima  comprchensio  veriiatis  Deiy 
propositae  in  scripturis  et  symbolo  apostolico,  atque  adeo  Bei 
ipsitis,  summi  boni,  et  praecipue  promissionis  divinae  et  Christi, 
qui  omnium  promissionum  est  colophon.  Most  masterly  also, 
and  drawn  from  the  deepest  expeiience,  is  the  definition  of  faith;. 
l>y  the  Heidelberg  Cc.techism^  in  its  answer  to  the  21st  question. 
No  such  deep  views  of  the  constitution  of  faith  had  been  taken 
eince  the  time  of  the  apostles.  Sarpi  relates  that  the  bishops  of 
the  Council  of  Trent,  were  not  able  to  conceive  of  it  as  anything  more 
than  assent  simply  to  historical  truth  ;  and  that  they  were  brought  ijito 
Uie  greatest  embarrassment  with  the  subject,  since  they  could  find  no 
satisfactory  light,  either  from  the  fathers  or  the  schoolmen,,  on  what 
had  not,  before  come  under  thorough  disc^ussion. 


63 

abject,  Jesus  Christ  namely  and  his  all  sufficient  merit  ;  the  se- 
cond, assensus,  free  inward  consent  to  all  the  scriptures  teach  of 
the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ  ;  the  third,  which  is  most  essential 
and  full  of  comfprtj^dwcirt,  or  the  act  of  the  will  moving  towards 
Christ  and  resting  in  him  for  redemption,  the  confidence  that 
this  grace  is  not  only  of  general  objective  force,  but  personally 
proper  also  to  the  believing  subject  himself. 

In  what  relation  now  does  this  justification  stand  to  holiness^ 
faith  as  thus  described  to  works  ?  Decided  as  Protestantism  is  in 
limiting  all  justifying  efficacy  to  the  apprehension  of  Christ's 
merit  by  means  of  faith,  it  is  just  as  far  from  denying,  however 
remotely,  the  necessary  connection  between  this  grace  and  a 
godly  life.  This  even  the,  most  shrewd,  clear-sighted  and  profound 
of  modern  opposers  of  the  system,  has  been  constrained  to  ad- 
mit, when  he  says  :  "It  would  he  in  the  highest  degree  unfair 
hpwever,  not  to  add  that  according  to  the  Lutheran  theory,  the 
apprehension  of  this  free  remission  of  sins  must  always  draw  af- 
ter it  the  renewal  of  the  sinner,  and  a  transformation  of  his  life  to 
holiness."  Genuine  Protestantism  has  ever  in  its  eye  the  faith  of 
Paul,  that  works  by  love ;  or  to  speak  with  the  Helvetic  Confes- 
sion, the^c^es,  7iulla  operiim  Jiducia,  is  at  the  same  time  operum 
foecundissima.  Its  very  being  consists  in  the  appropriation  of 
Christ,  the  holy  and  the  just.  How  then  should  it  wo^  produce 
good  works,  as  necessarily  as  a  good  tree  must  yield  good  fruit  ? 
It  is  the  parent  of  all  virtues.  As  soon  as  we  have  known  and 
believed  the  love  which  God  has  towards  us  (1  John  4  :  16.),  we 
cannot  but  love  him  in  return  (v.  19.).*     This  relation  between 

*  Conf.  Aug.  art.  6.  (p.  11.),  art.  20.  (p.  15,  16.),  Apol  Conf.  art.  3. 
(p.  83.  85.).  In  the  same,  p.  133  sq.  it  is  said  :  Ideo  jastificamur,  ut 
justi  bene  operari  et  obedire  legi  Dei  incipiamus.  Ideo  regeneramur 
et  spiritum  sanctum  accipimus,  ut  nova  vita  habeat  nova  opera,  novos 
affectus,  timorem,  dilectionem  Dei,  odium  concupisoentiae,  etc.  Form, 
Cone,  epit.  art.  3.  (p.  586.),  art.  4.  (p.  589.),  sol.  decl.  art.  3.  (p.  688.).  ' 
The  noble  passage  of  Luther  in  his  Preface  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
rnans,  is  known  ;  'f'O,.  it  ^is  a  living,  busy,  active,  mighty  thing  with  , 
faith,  that  it  cannot  possibly  cease  from  working  good.  It  does  not 
ask  either  if  good  works  are  to  be  done,  but  before  the  question  is  put  it 
has  done  them  already  and  is  doing  them  still....;  so  that  itls  impossi- 
ble to  sunder  wqrks  from  faith,  as  much  so  verily,  as  that  burning  and 
shining  should  be  sundered  from  fire."  The  Reformed  symbols,  with-  . 
out  exception,  press  this  point  in  terms  equally  strong,  and  in  actual 
life  indeed  this  Church  has  shown  herself  more  zealous  for  good  works 
even  than  her  sister.  I  refer  only  to  Con.Helv.  II.  art.  16.  (p.  496  sq.), 
and  Cat.  Ileid.  qu.  64.  (p.  444.)  :  neqiie  enim  fieri  potest,  quin  ii,,qui 
Qhristo  per  fidem  insiti  sunt,  fructus  proferant  gratitudinis. 


^ 


64 

faith  and  love  is  of  such  inward  force,  that  this  last  also  can -have  ^ 
no  place  without  the  first,  as  little  as  one  may  gather  grapes  from 
thorns.  Faith  is  always  necessarily  presupposed  in  love  ;  for 
what  does  not  spring  from  faith  is  sin,  and  so  not  love ;  the 
essence  of  which  is  a  forsaking  of  self,  while  self-seeking  forms 
the  inmost  nature  of  evil.  "Good  religious  works  make  never  a 
good  religious  man,  but  a  good  religious  man  maketh  good  religious  . 
works.  So  that  always  the  person  must  first  be  religious  and 
good  before  all  good  works,  and  good  religious  works  follow  and  go 
forth  from  the  religious  good  person.  As  the  tree  must  be  before 
the  fruitjso  must  the  man  be  first  good  or  bad  in  hisperson,  before  he 
doeth  good  or  bad  works.  The  like  we  see  in  all  handiwork.  A, 
good  or  bad  house  maketh  not  a  good  or  bad  carpenter,  but  a 
good  or  bad  carpenter  maketh  a  good  or  bad  house.  No  work 
maketh  a  master,  such  as  is  the  work  ;  but  as  the  master  is,  his 
work  also  is  such. — Works,  as  they  make  not  believing,  so  they 
make  not  pious  either.  But  faith,  as  it  maketh  pious,  so  doth  it 
make  good  woi'ks  also."* 

Protestantism,  in  thi?  .way,  only  places  faith  and  love  in  their 
natural  relation  to  each  other,  without  detracting  in  the  least  from  ; 
the  dignity  of  the  last.  Rather,  with  the  apostle  Paul,  it  puts 
this  highest,  for  the  very  reason  that  it  comes  last ;  as  the  begin- 
ning is  always  the  less  perfect,  that  points  to  a  more  complete  form 
of  existence.  The  Evangelical  morality,  as  the  product  of  free^ 
love  and  gratitude,  is  also  much  more  sound,  pure,  deep,  than  the 

*  Luther's  sermon  on  the  Liberty  of  a  Christian  Man  ;  one  of  his 
most  profound  productions.  (Edition  by  Gerlach,  vol.  V.  p.  37  f.) 
The  two  theses  of  Luther,  '''•If  faith  be  not  withoid  all  work^  it  maketh 
not  righteous,''^  and  "//  is  impossible  that  justifying  faith  should  be 
without  constantly  many  good  works,''''  have  been  tiresomely  paraded 
by  the  papists  as  an  irreconcilable  contradiction.  To  this  however 
Sartorius  {Bvangel.  Kirche7izeitung,  1835.  p.  826.)  has  rig'htly  an- 
swered, that  both  agree  admirably,  and  the  more  the  truth  of  the  one  is 
seen,  the  more  true  must  the  otlier  show  itself  to  be  at  tlie  same  time. 
In  proportion  as  the  man,  renouncing  himself,  ascribes  iiis  salvation 
only  and  altogether  to  God's  preventing  love,  the  more  deep  and  inward 
will  be  the  devotion  of  his  love  in  return,  and  his  grateful  zeal  in  all 
good  works  ;  which  flow  the  more  richly  from  faith,  as  its  fruit,  the 
less  they  are  made  to  go  before  it,  or  take  rank  with  it,  in  the  way  of 
principle  or  ground.  As  for  the  dictum  finally  of  the  same  great  refor- 
mer, so  ignorantly  misconstrued,  Si  in  fide  fieri  posset  adulterium,  pec- 
eaium  non  esset  {  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  bold,  reckless,  whole- 
sale, sweeping  style  in  which  he  was  accustomed  to  speak  ;  and  then 
reflect  farther,  that  with  him  no  such  sin  could  be  comraitled  in  faith,, 
80  thd,t  he  argues  simply  ex  impossibiii. 


Roman  Catholic,  which  even  in  its  highest  exhibitions  must  be  al- 
lowed to  include  a  sinful  mixture  of  spiritual  pride  or  mechanical 
formality. 

Good  works  then,  in  the  Protestant  system,  are  held  to  be  ac- 
ceptable to  God  ;  and  it  is  taught  even  that  God  rewards  them 
o-raciously.*  But  no  room  is  left  for  the  imagination,  that  we 
cat!  earn  salvation  by  their  means,  much  less  to  think  of  any  sur- 
plus merit.  The  entire  Christian  life  is  made  to  appear  as  a  debt 
of  gratitude,  for  the  boundless,  eternally  to  be  pyaised  love  and 
mercy  of  God  manifested  towards  us  in  Jesus  Christ.f  When, 
we  have  done  all  accordingly,  we  have  at  best  done  only  what 
was  our  duty  (Luke  17  :  fo.).  Sanctification  however  is  in  its 
nature  a  continually  progressive  work,  that  becomes  complete 
only  when  the  whole  body  of  the  Church,  of  which  the  individual 
Christian  is  a  member,  has  reached  its  state  of  perfection.  Yea, 
strictly  considered,  even  the  best  works  of  the  believer,  so  longas^ 
he  sojourns  in  the  body,  by  reason  of  the  continued  prtsmce  of 
sin  in  his  person,  are  not  good  absolutely,  but  only  so  much  and 
so  far  as  they  are  wrought  in  him  and  through  him  by  the  Spirit 
of  God. if  If  he  might  say  even  with  the  apostle,  "I  know  no- 
thing by  myself,"  that  is  am  conscious  of  no  wrong,  he  must  with 
bim  also  still, add,,  "yet  am.  I.  not  h^why  justified."     His  confi- 

*  Jpol.  Conf.  art.  3.  (p.  96  and  135.),  Form.  Cone.  art.  4.  (p.  700 
sq.),  Conf.  Hdv.  II.  c.  16,  (p.  498.)  Placent  vero  approbanturque  a 
Deo  opera,  quae  a  nobis  fiunt  per  fid  em. — Etenim  docemus  Deum  bona 
operantibus,  amplam  dare  mercedem. — Referiraus  tamen  mercedem 
banc,  quam  Dominus  dat,  non  ad  meritum  hominis  accipientis,  sed  ad 
bonitatem,  vel  liberalitatem  et  veritatem  Dei  promittentis  atque  dantis,. 
qui  quum  nihil  debeat  cuiquam,  promisit  tamen  etc.  Conf,  BeJg.  art. 
^4.  (p.  378.)  Interea  non  neg-amus,  Deam  bona  opera  in  suis  remune- 
rari ;  sed  id  mera  sua  gratia  fieri  dioimus,  ut  qui  dona  sua  in  nobis 
coronet. 

j-  With  admirable  j'ldgment  accordingly,  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
has  comprehended  all  Christian  practice  under  the  article  of  Graiitiide. 
The  Conf.Helv.il.  art.  16. (p.  497.)agreeing  with  this  says:  (Bona  opera) 
fieri  debent,  non  ut  his  promereamur  vitam  aeternam,  donum  Dei  enim 
est,  ut  apostolus  ait,  vita  aeterna  ;  neque  ad  ostentationem,  quam 
rejecit  Dominus  Matth.  6.  ;  neque  ad  quaestum,  quern  et  ipsurn  rejecit 
Matth.  23.  ;  sed  ad  gloriam  Dei,  ad,  ornandam  vocationem  nostram, 
gratitudinemque  Deo  praestandam,  et  utilitatera  proximi.  .Brtic.  .3ng., 
art.  14. 

:t  Conf.  Helv.  IT.  c.  16.  (p.  499.)  :  Sunt  multa  praeterea  indignaDeo, 
et  imperfecta  plurima  inveniuntur  in  operibus  etiam  sanctorum,  hv  .. 
THi:R's  word  is  known,  /t*s/ws  in  omni  bono  opere  ptccat. 


y 


dence  of  salvation  consequently  can  never  rest  upon  his  works  of 
love,  but  only  upon  the  ohjective  rock  of  Christ's  miM'it,  whose  he 
feels  hiaiself  to  be  in  laiih.  Even  Paul  iiimself,  the  apostle,  at 
the  end  ofhis  c^ireer  —  a  career,  such  as  no  saint  of  the  Romish 
Church  certainly  can  exhibit — declares  it  to  be  the  highest  object 
ofhis  desire,  that  he  might  not  have  his  own  righteousness,  which 
was  of  the  law,  but  a  ibreign  righteousness,  which  was  of  faith  in 
Christ,  the  righteousness  namely  that  is  of  God  by  faith.  (Phil. 
3  :  9.). 

The  last  point  of  difference  in  the  case  before  us,  regards  the 
assurance  of  justification.  B  ing  justified  by  grace  through  faith, 
we  have  peace,  the  apostle  tells  us,  with  God  (Rotrv.  5  :  1 — 5.). 
This  peace  is  a  state  oi" mind,  which  necessarily  attends  the  exer- 
cise of  faith.  For  God  is  the  fulness  of  all  blessedness  ;  and 
faith  is  the  possession  of  God  ;  consequently  in  itself  of  beati- 
fying nature,  in  it.-.elf  the  assurance  of  salvaiion.  To  be  united 
to  God  in  Christ,  is  to  be  saved.  But  faith  is  the  consciousness 
of  this  communion.  As  nothing  makes- a.  man  living  but  life, 
nothing  makes  him  joyful  or  loving  but  joy  or  love,  so  he  can  be 
made  blessed  only  by  faith,  which  is  the  same  thing  with  blessed- 
ness itself.*  At  the  same  time  to  be  sure,  since  faith  is  at  one- 
time large  and  strong,  as  Luther  says,  at  another  small  and' 
weak,  this  assurance  oi  justification  must  naturally  rise  and  fall 
in  the  same  way.f 

BefQi:e  passing  over  to  the  formal  principle,  it  may  be  well,  in 

*  This  assurance  of  salvation,  as  secured  to, us  by  faith,  is  pro-- 
claimed  in  the  loftiest  style  by  the  old  Chur.  h  psalmody,  and  by 
Luther  himself  in  a  thousand  places  ;  as  for  instance  in  his  sermon  on 
the  sfosp.  D.  20.  p.  trin.  where  among  other  things  he  says  :  "If  death- 
make  onset  ;  so  have  I  Clirist;  he  is  niy  life.  If  sin  make  onset ;  so 
have  I  Christ ;  he  is  ray  righteousness.  If  hell  and  damnation  make 
onset;  so  have  I  Christ;  he  is  my  salvation.  Set  in  upon  me  thus 
what  may ;  still  I  have  Christ  ;  him  I  can  hold  forward  as  my  shield, 
60  that  nothing  can  do  me  harm."  —  Calvin's //26/e7.  IlL  2.  IG:  In 
fcumma  :  vere  lidelis  noa  est,  nisi  qui  solida  persuasione  Deum  siDi 
propitium  benevolumque  patreni  esse  persuasus,  do  ejus  benignitate 
omnia  sibi  pollicetur ;  nisi  que  divinae  erga  se  benevolentia  promissio- 
nibus  fretus,  indubitatam  salutis  expectationem  praesumit. 

\  Calvin's  Tnsiit.  III.  2.  17.  Nos  certe  dum  fidem  docemus  esse 
debere  certam  et  securam,  non  certitudincm  aliquam  imaginamur,  quae 
nulla  tangatnr  dubitatione,  nee  securitatem,  quae  nulla  sollicitudine  im- 
petaturj;  quin  potius  dicimus,  pcrpetuum  esse  fidelibus  certamen  cum. 
eua  ipsorum  diffidentia,  tantum  abest  ut  eorum  cnnscientias  in  placida,, 
aliqua  quiete  coUocemus,  quae  nuUis  omnino  turbis  interpelletur. 


view  of  the  immense  importance  of  tlie  pfotestant  doctfine  of 
justification,  to  notice  the  most  acute  and  weighty  objections  thai 
have  been  urged  against  ir  on  the  part  of  Roman  Catholic,  and 
pseudo-protestant,  or  rationalistic  opposers. 

1.  One  of  the  most  common  reproaches  is,  that  "thfiprotestant 
theory  of  justiticaiion  encourages  a  thoughtless  reliance  on  grace 
aiid  negTecrorgoo^vvbrks.'"  Here  however  the  cuise  turns  into 
a  blessmg.  '  For  the  same  reproach  was  brouglit  against  the  doc- 
trine of  the  apostle  Paul  ;*'  and  it  serves  to  show  consequently 
that  we  agree  with  him.  As  he  could  triumphantly  point  such 
calumniators  to  the  moral  exhortations  contained  in  all  his  epistles 
and  also  to  his  own  life,  so  do  we  with  like  conlidence  hold  up  to 
our  opponents  our  symbolical  books,  and  the  lives  of  the  Refor- 
mers themselves,  wiio<e  moral  earnestness  and  untiring  practical 
activity  were  such  as  to  cast  all  their  coiemporaries  into  the 
shade. 

2.  "It  is  notj)ossibl£j^hat  God,  who  is^trutji  jt^elf,  can  declare 
ajE?iO-iii.hfiU'i^hteoljs  is^np'.t  such 
injgi;!,"  —  The  mere  ^/-ea/^rtera^  involves  no  difficulty.  Even  in 
the  sphere  of  the  natural  life,  God  treats  us  better  than  we  de- 
serve, causing  the  sun  to  shine,  and  giving  rain,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  ungodly  as  well  as  of  the  good  and  pious.  The  nature  of 
grace,  which  falls  ii  is  true  beyond  the  range  of  abstract  justice, 
consists  always  in  this,  that  the  offender  is  rel.'ased  from  merited 
punishment,  and  put  into  the  positive  enjoyment  of  freedom,  that 
being  thus  subdued  and  huinbled,  he  may  be  led  to  pursue  a  better 
life.  Love  also  in  genera!,  of  which  grace  is  only  a  paiticular 
modification,  shows  in  iis  highest  utterances  the  very  same  char- 
acter, witliout  which  it  could  never  be  exercised  towards  an  ene- 
my. When  some  unfortunate  has  fillen  into  the  water,  the  phi- 
lanthropist stops  not  to  inquire,  even  if  it  be  his  own  enemy, 
whether  he  is  worthy  of  being  rescued,  but  plunges  at  once  into 
the  stream,  and  by  his  noble,  self-fot getting  conduct  wins  the 
heart  of  him  vvhose  life  he  saves.  The  whole  difiiculty  then  in 
the  case  before  us  must  turn,  not  upon  God's  treatment  of  the  be- 
liever, but  upon  the  idea  of  his  declaring  a  man  to  be  what  he  is 
not  in  fact.     If  however   practice  and  judgment  are  to  be  saved 

*  Horn.  3:8.  "We  be  slanderously  reported,  and  some  affirm  that 
we  say,  Let  ua  do  evil  that  g-ood  may  come."  /Vow.  5  :  10.  compared 
with  6  ;  1.  Ga/.  5  :  13.  When  Peter  says,  in  his  2nd  epistle,  .3  :  16., 
thattnere  are  some  things  in  the  epistles  of  Paul  hard  to  understand, 
which  they  that  are  unlearned  and  unstable  wrest  to  their  own  destruc- 
tion, he  has  the  doctrine  cf  justilication  mainly  in  his  eye. 


68 

from  irreconcilable  contradiction  with  each  other,  the  first  must 
involve  here  the  supposition  again  of  the  second.     When  God  is 
represented  by  the  apostle  as  having  loved  men  while  they  were 
yet  sinners,  it  does  not  mean  that  he  loved  them  as  sinners,  which 
would  be  to  have  loved  sin  itself  in  them,  whereas  this  is  always 
his  abomination  ;  but  he  loved  them  as  creatures,  who  were  capable 
of  redemption,  and  in  this  view  worthy  of  being  loved.     He  loved 
the  divine  nature   which  was  in  them  potentially,  having  reality 
indeed  only  in  his  own   purpose,  but  destined,  throui;h  the  mani- 
festation  of  his  grace  and  love,  to  actualize  itself  and  become  real 
subjectively   also  in  man  himself.     Men  are  declared  righteous 
then  by  God,  not  so  far  as  they  are*smrrers',"B'urso~far'only  as 
they  are  in  ChrisTfahd  have  thus  in  tli is  objective  way  the^rinci- 
pfe  of  riglTteousness  iii'  fact ;  and  IHis^ jusfiTy ing  act"*bec6mes  itself 
tje  occasion,  by   which  thd  principle  is  actualized  in  its  subject, 
having  creative  force,  quickening  the  dead,  and  calling  into  exis- 
tence, that  which  had  no  existence  before.     The  justilylng  grace 
of  God  does  not  stand  over  against  the  convicted  siiiner  in  an  ab- 
stract form,  but  passes  over  to  him  through  the  medium  of  faith, 
sets  him  in  its  own  element,  and  thus  lodges  in  his  person  a  life 
germ   altogether  new,  in  which  is  comprehended  from  the  start 
the  entire  growth  of  holiness.     So  Abraliam  was  called  a  father 
of  many  nations,  before  he  was  so  actually.     Ideally  however,  in 
the   divine    plan  he  was  "such  in  the  fullest  sense.     God,  before 
whom  the  dimensions  of  time  all  give  way  in  the  same  vast  eter- 
nity, looks  upon   men  in  their  inmost  nature  as  rooted  in  Christ, 
with  whom  they  are  brought  into  living  union  by  faith.     For  the 
relation  of  Christ  to  humanity  is  not  outward,  but  inward  and  es- 
sential.    He  is  the  second  Adam,  the  spiritual  head  of  the  race, 
the  true  centre  of  all  its  individual  personalities,  in  which  only 
the  idea  of  the  whole  is  fully  realized  and  made  complete.     This 
whole  objection  then  proceeds  upon  a  perfectly  abstract  conception 
of  the  docirine  of  justification,  whicKi  admits  the  thought  of  a  judg- 
ment in  the  divine  mind  that  is  not  at  the  same  time  creative  ;  and 
only  against  such  a  conception  of  the  case  can  it  be  allowed  to 
have  any  force.     Many  of  the  Lutheran  theologians  did  indeed 
lean  towards  this  extreme,  in  their  anti-pelagian  zeal  ;  but  it  was 
not  so  with  the  Reformed.     They  always  acknowledged  the  true 
element    here   in   the   catholic    doctrine,  without  sanctioning  its 
pelagianistic  trait.*     For   there   still  remains  always    this  great 


*  Comp.  particularly  the  whole  11th  chapter  of  the  third  book  of 
Calvin's  Institutes  ;  for  example,  §  6.  where  this  agreement  and  dif- 
ference are  both  very  clearly  stated  :  Sicut  non  potest  decerpi  Christus 
m  partes,  ita  inseparabilia  esse  haec  duo,  quae  simul  et  conjunctira  m 


distinction,  that  the  principle  of  righteousness  in  man  as  answer- 
ing to  the  justifying  act  of  God  never  flows  even  in  part  from  his 
own  subjective  constitution,  but  only  and  altogether  from  his  be- 
lieving union  with  the  objective  Christ,  and  that  the  actualization 
of  this  principle  in  his  person,  is  itself  conditioned  by  the  declara- 
tory act,  creative  at  the  same  time,  going  before. 

3.  "It  is  unreasonable  to  ascribe  all  justifying  and  saving 
power_t^o_^Mi,  and  to  deny  sucF  virtue  %  "Bye,  when  the  apostle 
I^^neverTHeTessJ'wlToTs Tri  such  ^reatauthority  with protestants, 
placeTlovelTbo ve  TeiiIK,''TUbr'."TLW:  1 3.'"^— We  too  proclaim  love  to 
be  the "Krghesf^lHe'aKvays "abiding;  but  precisely  for  this  reason  it 
is  not  to  be  found  in  guilty  man,  immersed  in  selfishness  and  sin, 
but  only  in  God  himself,  the  fountain  of  all  love.  So  the  only 
way  of  coming  to  God,  and  becoming  assured  of  his  love  in  Christ, 
through  the  knowledge  and  apprehension  of  which  we  are  made 
first  capable  of  love  in  return,  is  no  other  than  faith  itself;  which 
is  simply  what  our  doctrine  asserts.  The  fruit  is  belter  than  the 
root  ;  and  yet  this  last  carries  the  tree,  and  not  the  first.  In  this 
objection  moreover,  it  is  forgotten,  that  all  justifying  and  saving 
power,  causatively  considered,  is  lodged  according  to  our  view, 
neither  in  human  faith,  to  which  we  attribute  only  instrumental 
efficacy,  nor  in  human  love,  but  exclusively  in  God's  grace,  that 
the  glory  of  this  may  remain  complete. 

4.  Adroitly  constructed  is  the  objection:  "l^ith  in  theprotes- 
tant  view  is  justifying,  not  as  a  dead  historical  assent,  but  in  tj^e 
(Jaracter'df  iffward  humility  and  trust,  as  a  longing  after  the  Re- 
deemerj  as  love  cbnsequenrtlythough  in  its  infanqy  ;  and  thus  tljs 
theory,^  to  preserve  itself,  falls  back  again  unwittingly  to  the  ivo- 
man  catholic  dogma."  —  Now  we  may  well  allow,  that  there  is 
an  ultimate  "pomt,   where  faith  may  be  regarded  as  a  constituent 

ipso  percipimus,  justitiam  et  sanctificationem.  Quoscunque  ergo  in 
gratiam  recipit  Deus,  simul  spiritu  adoptionis  donat,  cujus  virtute  eos 
reformat  ad  suam  imaginem.  Venim,  si  soils  claritas  non  potest  a 
calore  separari,  an  ideo  dicemus  luce  calefieri  terram,  calore  vero  illus- 
trari  1  Hac  sirailitudine  nihil  ad  rem  praesentem  magis  accomodum  : 
sol  calore  suo  terram  vegetat  ac  fecundat,  radiis  suis  illustrat  et  illu- 
minat :  hie  mutila  est  ac  individua  connexio,  transferre  tamen  quo^ 
unius  peculiare  est,  ad  alteram,  ratio  ipsa  prohibet. 

*  In  similar  style  the  argument  was  pressed  by  an  opponent  upon 
Melancthon  :  dileetio  est  maxima  virtus  ;  ergo  dilectio  justificaL 
Melancthon  however  draws  from  the  proposition  just  the  opposite 
"conclusion  :  dilectio  est  maxima  virtus,  atqui  nos  earn  wizmTfte  praesta- 
mus  ;  ergo  per  dilectionem  mmme  justi  sumus. 

7 


(70    ) 

in  the  development  of  love,  taken  in  its  broadest  sense.  But  nn^ 
less  all  ideas  are  to  lose  themselves  in  one  another  promiscuous- 
ly, we  must  distinguish  and  separate  on  the  one  hand,  as  closely, 
as  we  seek  connecting  relations  on  the  other.  Only  in  the  use  of 
such  reflective  separation,  is  any  scientific  knowledge  possible. 
We  say  then,  that  fallen  man,  sold  under  the  power  of  selfish- 
ness, which  is  the  very  opposite  of  love,  in  order  that  he  may 
come  to  the  exercise  of  this  grace,  in  its  true  Christian,  self- re- 
nouncing, self-sacrificing  form,,  must  first  become  conscious  of  the 
divine  love  in  its  relation  to  himself  personally,  must  yield  him- 
self to  ChrisCs  love  ;  and  this  is  itself  the  exercise  of  faith.  The 
receptive  element  must  go  before  the  spontaneous  ;  humble  ap- 
prehension before  self-subsisting  action.  We  are  always  brouo  ht 
back  accordingly  to  the  protestant  thesis,  that  man  is  justified 
and  saved,  not  by  the  love  which  he  exercises  himself,  but  by 
the  love  he  receives  from  abroad,  that  is  by  faith. 

2.     The  Formal  Principle,        I 

So  much  for  the  material  principle  of  Protestantism,  by  which 
direct  and  full  access  has  been  made  good  for  man  to  the  grace  of 
God  in  Christ.  This  doctrine  was  brought  to  the  consciousness  of 
the  Reformers,  in  their  inward  spiritual  conflicts,  b.}''  means  of  the 
written  word  of  God.  Whilst  tradition  as  it  then  stood  con- 
tradicted it  entirely,  directing  men  for  salvation,  not  to  faith,  but 
to  mechanical  outward  observances  and  forms  ;  the  almost  for- 
gotten bible  was  felt  to  preach  the  glorious  truth,  distinctly  and 
loudly,  from  beginning  to  end.*  Thus  as  Christ  became  to  them 
all  in  all,  his  word  also  v/as  taken  for  the  separate  and  sufficient 
fountain  of  their  religious  knowledge.  To  the  material  or  life- 
principle  of  the  Reformation  accordingly,  is  joined  as  its  neces- 
sary complement  the ybrmaZ  or  knowledge-principle  ;  which  con- 
sists in  this,  that  the  word  of  God,  as  it  has  been  handed  down 

*  This  experience  is  described  in  a  lovely  way  by  Luther  himself : 
"Then,  (after  coming  to  a  clear  sense  of  justificaticrji  by  faith,)  at  once 
I  felt  that  I  was  new  born,  and  had  now  found  a  wide,  open  door  to 
enter  into  paradise  itself;  saw  now  moreover  the  precious  scriptures  tna 
very  different  light,  from  all  they  seemed  before  ,•  ran  accordingly  soon 
through  the  whole  bible,  and  gathered  in  other  passages  also  according  to 
this  rule  all  its  expositions  of  what  is  meant  by  God^s  work,  God''s  rii^ht^ 
eousness  and  God's  faith.  And  as  before  I  hated  this  little  word  right 
heartily,  God's  righteousness,  so  I  began  now  to  hold  the  same  high 
and  dear  as  the  sweetest  and  most  comforting  to  me  of  all  words,  and 
this  same  passage  in  St.  Paul  became  to  me  of  a  truth  the  very  gate  of 
paradise." 


71 

lo  us  in  the  canonical  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  i&^ 
the  pure  and  proper  source  as  well  as  the  only  certain  measure,. 
ofaW  saving  truth. 

We  find  here  now  a  similar  relation  to  that  which  we  have  al-  ^^ 
ready  met  in  the  case  of  ihe  material  principle,  and  a  correspond- 
ence between  the  terms  on  both  sides.  The  word  of  God  answers 
to  I'aith,  and  tradition  to  love.  As  the  doctrine  of  justification  re. 
fers  back  to  the  doctrine  of  sin  as  its  necessary  presupposition,  so 
does  the  doctrine  of  the  authority  of  the  scriptures  also  to  a  cor- 
responding view  of  the  relation  of  the  natural  reason  to  revela- 
tion. The  more  favorable  the  view  that  is  taken  of  the  will  of 
man  in  its  natural  state,  the  less  will  be  the  account  made  of  the 
blindness  oCthe  understanding  as  going  hand  in  hand  with  sin, 
and  the  higher  the  consequence  attached  to  the  word  of  man,  as 
well  as  to  his  works,  in  the  business  of  salvation  ;  and  so  the 
reverse  will  hold  also  in  every  point.  Hence  Romanism,  as  it 
makes  faith  and  works  to  be  parallel  sources  of  justification,  and 
lays  the  main  stress  in  fact  practically  upon  the  last,  is  only  con- 
sistent with  itself,  when  it  invests,  here  also  in  the  sphere  of  the 
formal  principle,  the  word  of  God  and  human  tradition  with  equal 
authority  as  sources  of  religious  knowledge,  and  gives  tjje  second 
in  reality  the  preference  above  the  first.  Protestantism,  on  the 
contrary,  places  both  powers  in  each  case  in  their  natural  relation 
to  each  other,  in  the  relation  namely  of  ground  and  consequence, 
cause  and  efl^ect,  origin  and  process.  Faith  alone  justifies,  but  "^ 
produces  at  the  same  time  good  works  as  its  necessary  fruit ;  the 
word  of  God  is  the  only  fountain  and  norm  of  knowledge,  but  it 
flows  forward  in  the  Church,  and  comes  there  continually  to 
clearer:  and  deeper  consciousness.  As  moreover,  accordins^  to 
this  view,  the  value  of  works  is  estimated  by  the  measure  of  the 
faith  which  forms  their  ground,  so  the  worth  of  tradition  also  is 
determined  by  its  organic  connection  and  agreement  with  the  word 
of  God.  Inasmuch  however  as  history  is  ever  developed  by  *^ 
means  of  more  or  less  onesided  antagonisms,  it  was  natural  that 
with  the  Reformation,  in  opposition  to  the  reigning  overvaluation 
o^  mafias  works  a7id  man's  ivord,  the  principal  emphasis  should  be 
placed  upon  G^ocTs  grace  and  God's  word  ;  not  with  the  repudia-  ' 
lion  indeed,  but  with  some  neglect  at  least  of  the  other  side.  Tliis 
was  the  case  particularly  with  regard  to   tradition.*     The    ne- 

*  We  may  notice  here  incidentally,  in  passing,  a  very  important 
fundamental  peculiarity  of  the  Lutheran  Church  as  distinguished  from 
the  Reformed.  This  communion,  in  its  genuine  form  and  life,  has  more 
respect  for  tradition  than  the  Reformed,  and  its  development  according- 
ly has  been  more  historical  and  gradual,  and  more  largely  conservative 


7£) 

gleet  here  is  the  more  to  be  excused,  since  the  Church  of  Rome. 
under  the  credit  of  apostolical  tradition  had  smuggled  into  her 
communion  the  most  shocking  errors,  and  brought  the  word  of 
God  almost  entirely  into  oblivion,  had  repeatedly  prohibited  it  to 
the  laity  indeed  in  express  terms.  Tradition  was  in  fact,  as 
Chemnitz  says  in  his  Examen.  Cone.  Trid.  the  box  of  Pandora, 
cvjus  operculo  omne  genus  corruptelarum,  ahusuum  et  super sti- 
tionum  in  ecclesiam  inveciumfuit. 

As  both  principles  are  thus  inwardly  connected,  being  only  two. 
different  sides  indeed  of  one  and  the  same  principle,  our  exposi- 
tion  of  the  formal,  which  is  now  before  us,  will  be  materially  as- 
sisted by  the  acquaintance  we  have  formed  with  the  other. 

The  Council  of  Trent  receives,  according  to  the  first  decree 
of  the  fourth  session,  two  sources  for  the  knowledge  of  divine  rev- 
elation, the  word  written  or  the  sacred  scriptures,  and  the  word 
unwritten  or  tradition  ;  and  these  she  makes  co-ordinate,  in  the 
first  instance,  as  the  product  of  the  same  Holy  Ghost,  {pari  pie- 
talis  affectu  ac  revereniia  suscipit  et  veneratur').  Such  a  co-or- 
dination serves  itself  to  depreciate  the  written  word.*  But  thia. 
is  done  still  more  effectually  through  the  farther  definitions  and 
restrictions,  to  which  it  is  subjected.  In  actual  practice,  the 
scriptures  fall  behind  tradition,  as  in  the  case  of  the  material  prin- 
ciple faith  falls  behind  works.  For  under  the  written  word  of 
God,  the  Church  of  Rome  understands  not  merely,  as  we  do,  the 
canonical  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  but  in  open, 
contradiction  to  the  oldest  and  purest  tradition  ofanORiGEN, 
Athanasius,  Eusebius,  Hilary,  and  even  her  otherwise  so  much 
respected  Jerome,  incorporates  iqto  it  also  the  Apocrypha  ;  mere 
human  productions,  whatever  may  be  their  worth. f     The  dis- 


of  what  was  old  ;  whilst  the  Reformed,  in  Puritanism  particularly, 
proceeded  more  violently,  and  by  its  contempt  for  history  furnished  oc-. 
casion,  in  part  at  least,  for  the  multiplication  of  sects.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Reformed  Church  is  more  strenuous  than  the  Lutheran  in  its 
view  of  the  necessity  of  good  works,  and  has  always  displayed  accord- 
ingly uncommon  practical  activity  in  the  Christian  life  ;  whilst  the 
sister  body,  revelling  in  free  justification,  presses  hard  on  the  confines 
of  antinomianism  ;  having  heen  carried  in  the  person  of  one  of  her 
principal  champions  quite  over  to  the  maxim,  Good  works  hinder  salva- 
tio7i !  An  exaggeration,  which  of  course  the  Church  soon  disowned. 

*  For  it  involves  the  assumption,  that  their  is  much  wanting  in  the 
scriptures  that  is  necessary  to  salvation,  and  that  they  are  consequently 
incomplete  ;  as  BellariMINe  de  verbo  Lei  4,  3.  expressly  asserts. 

t  Cone.  Trid.  Sess.  IV.  deer,  de  can.  script,  where  at  the  same  time 


73 

tihction  between  the  divine  and  human  is  thus  unsettled.  This 
pantheistic  feature  runs  through  the  whole  system,  culminating 
in  the  respect  shown  towards  the  pope,  as  lawlully  holditig  and 
exercising  the  threefold  office  of  Christ  himself.  Too  much' 
again  is  cillowed  to  human  agency  in  the  formation  ofthesacred^ 
scriptures,  by  limiting  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  mere 
assistance  and  guidance,  {assistentia  et  direct.io).\  Still  farther, 
the  Latin  translation  of  Jerome,  a  work  of  course  proceeding 
from  a  particular  Church  position  and  reflecting  its  image,  is  not 
only  placed  on  a  par  with  the  original  text,  but  in  actual  use  pre- 
ferred to  it  altogether.*  In  the  fourth  place,  the  charge  of  dark- 
ness and  ambiguity  is  brought  against  the  scriptures  ;f  whence 
tradition  is  held  to  be  necessary  for  their  interpretation  ;  and  it  is 
counselled  that  the  laity  should  not  read  them,  except  in  cases  of 
special   qualification,  of  which  the  bishop  is  to  be  the  judge. §  In 

the  protestants,  for  rejecting  the   Apocrypha,  are  laid  under  an  ana- 
thema. 

X  Bellarmine  De  verbo  div.  1,  15.  Aliter  Dens  adfuit  prophetis, 
aliier  historicis.  Illis  revelavit  fatara  et  simuladstitit,  ne  aliquid  falsi 
admiacerent  in  scribendo ;  his  non  semper  revelavit  ea,  quae  scriptiiri 
erant,  sed  excitavit  duntaxat,  ut  scriberent  ea,  quae  vel  viderant,  vel 
audierant,  quorum  recordabantur,  et  simul  adstitit,  ne  quid  falsi  scribe- 
rent,  quae  assistentia  non  excliidebat  laborem.  The  Jesuits  proceeded 
farther,  and  admitted  without  reserve  the  possibility  of  error,  and  even 
of  falsehood  outright  in  the  gospels  ;  as,  for  example,  Alb.  Pighi  Hier- 
arck.  eccles.  1,  2.  Matthaeus  et  loannes  evangelistae  potuemnt  et  lahi 
menwria  et  mentiri  etc. 

*  Cone.  Trid.  S.  IV.  deer,  de  edit,  et  usa  s.  libr.,  where  the  vulgate 
is  pronounced  authentica,  and  the  rejection  of  it,  that  is  all  departure 
from  it  in  interpretation,  is  prohibited.  Comp.  Bellarmine  de  verbo 
Dei  II.  10.,  who  with  proper  consequence  maintains,  that  the  Vulgate  is 
free  irom  all  fnaterial  error  in  translation. 

\  Comp.  Klee's  katholische  Dogmatik,  vol.  1.  p.  277.  2nd  ed. 
LiNDANUS  (de  opt.  script,  interpret.)  is  not  ashamed  to  say  even,  that 
the  scriptures  without  the  aid  of  tradition  have  no  more  value  than 
Aesop's  Fables  :  Sacram  scripturam,  si  auctoritas  ecclesiae  disidera- 
tur,  non  plus  per  se  valere  quam  Aesopi  fabulas.  Comp.  also  the  In- 
struction pastorale  I.  of  Bossuet,  cap.  43. 

§  The  symbols,  it  is  true,  are  silent  on  the  point,  and  in  all  times 
there  have  been  Catholics  who  have  earnestly  recommended  the  study 
of  the  bible.  (Comp.  Extracts  on  the  necessity  and  use  of  bible  read- 
ing, from  the  fathers  and  other  catholic  writings,  by  Leander  v.  Ess, 
2nd  ed.  Sulzbach  1816).  But  in  strict  Roman  catholic  lands,  such  as 
Italy  and  Spain,  the  people  are  fearfully  ignorant  of  the  bible,  and  the 
priests  oppose  every  effort  of  the  protestants  to  circulate  it,  frequently 

7* 


74- 

short,  the  whole  tendency  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  forv 
its  object,  to  subordinate  the  bible  to  tradition,  and  then  to  make, 
itself  the  infallil^le  judge  of  both;  with  power  to  determine  at 
pleasure  what  is  God's  word  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and 
to  anathematise  every  thing  that  may  go  beyond  its  past  decisions, 
even  though,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Reformation  and  Jansenism,  it 
should  be  an  actual  deepening  of  the  Christian  consciousness 
itself. 

As  already  remarked,  tradition  in  the  Romish  sense,  is  the  un- 
written portion  of  divine  revelation  ;  by  which  is  meant  simpiyj . 
that   it   was   not   committed  to   writing  in  the  beginning  by  its 
author,  however  it  may  have  been  reduced  to  this  form  since  in . 
the  symbolical  books  and  other  productions  of  the  Church.     Its 
contents  are  partly  expository   and  partly  supplementary  to  the 
bible  ;  it  springs  in  part  from  Christ  himself,  and  in  part  from 
the  apostles  under   the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  it  is  thus  of 
like  origin  and  like  dignity  with  the  written  word  :  and  has  trans- 
mitted  itself  through  the  Church  all  along,  pure  and  true,  under 
the  constant  care  of  God's  Spirit.*     Articles  of  tradition  are,  . 

indeed  have  committed  large  numbers  of  bibles  to  the  flames.  It  is  a 
fact  farther,  that  the  reading  of  the  scriptures  has  been  prohibited  to  the 
laity  by  several  popes,  from  Gregory  VII.  down  to  our  own  time,  and 
also  by  several  provincial  councils  ;  as  the  C.  Tolosanum  a.  1229. 
{can.  14.  Prohibemus  etiam,  ne  libros  Vet.  T.  ant  N.  laici  permittan-  . 
tur  habere,  nisi  forte  Psalterium  vel  Breviarium  pro  divinis  officiis  aut 
horas  B.  Mariae  aliquis  ex  devotione  habere  velit,  Sed  ne  praemissos 
libros  habeant  in  vulgari  translates,  arctissime  inhibemus)  ;  so  the 
C.  Tarraconense  a.  1234.  In  any  case,  according  to  the  whole  system 
of  the  Church,  the  reading  of  the  scriptures  is  not  regarded  as  neces- 
sary, and  the  people  are  referred  to  the  priests  as  a  nearer  and  surer 
fountain  of  instruction. 

*  The  Council  of  Trent  speaks  on  this  difficult  subject  in  its  4th 
Session,  but  for  reasons  easily  understood  goes  not  into  it  minutely., 
Even  to  have  raised  a  question  here,  must  have  been  to  put  at  stake  a 
number  of  her  most  important  doctrines  and  usages.  Bellarmine  de 
verba  Dei,  4,  2.  divides  traditions  into,  1st  tradiiiones  divinae,  communi- 
cated by  Christ  to  the  apostles,  2nd  tradiiiones  aposto/icae,  proceeding 
from  the  apostles,  tliough  not  in  their  writings,  and  3d  tradiiiones  ec- 
clcsiasiicac,  ancient  Church  usages  and  customs.  The  first  stand  par- 
allel in  value  with  the  gospels,  the  second  with  the  writings  of  the 
apostles,  and  the  third  with  the  written  decrees  and  constitutions  of  the 
Church.  Moehler's  view  of  tradition,  on  the  contrary,  is  by  no  means 
strictly  orthodox,  but  ideal,  showing  a  protestant  tinge.  Here,  as  in 
his  celebrated  bpok  also  on  the  unity  of  the  Church,  the  theology  of 
ScniiEiERMACHER  was  evidently  felt.  Thus  he  distinguishes  in  his 
Sijmbolik  (p.  362  ff.  of  the  5th  ed,   1838.)  between  a  tradition  in  the 


for  example,  infant  baptism,  the  worship  of  the  saints,  the  doc- 
trine of  purgatory,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  the  forty  days  fast 
before  easier.  Its  compass  is  determined  of  course  by  the 
Church,  that  is  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which  is  taken 
to  be  the  Church  universal,  and  so  the  rightful  bearer  of  this 
trust.  What  she  has  declared  to  be  apostolical  tradition,  through  , 
her  organs,  the  popes  and  councils,  must  be  received  in  this 
character.  She  decides  in  the  case  however  according  to  a  fixed 
rule,  the  criterion  of  catholicity  namely  presented  by  Vincentius 
LiRiNENsis  :  quod  ubique,  quod  semper,  quod  ah  omnibus  crtdi- 
turn  est.  All  valid  traditions  consequently  must  have  been  uni- 
versally acknowledged  by  the  Christian  Church  from  the  begin- 
ning. 

But  just  here  comes  the  knot  which  the  Church  of  Rome  is 
not  able  to  unloose,  but  only  to  cut  in  a  violent  way.  The  uni- 
versality in  time  and  space  which  is  called  for  by  the  criterion 
now  mentioned,  cannot  be  shown  in  favor  of  a  single  one  of  all 
her  traditions  as  ditferent  from  the  bible. .  This  point  has  been 
largely  handled  by  Chemnitz,  with  great  learning.  Very  many 
dogmas  and  usages  rose  clearly  in  the  Middle  Age,  or  at  least  af- 
ter the  time  of  Augustine  ;  and  in  the  best  cases,  the  alledged 
universality  reduces  itself  to  a  relative  majority  of  voices  merely, 
which  was  often  very  small,  and  not  unlrequently  besides  the 
result  of  outward  influences  entirely.  In  the  discussion  on  tradi- 
tion itself,  in  the  fourth  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  nothing 
like  absolute  unanimity  was  to  be  found.  The  bishop  of  Chiozza 
maintained  that  the  gospels  contain  all  that  man  needs  for  salva- 
tion ;  and  another  prelate  declared  decidedly,  that  God's  word 
consisted  not  of  two  parts,  that  it  was  a  reproach  to  divine  provi- 
dence to  assume  that  a  portion  of  its  revelation  had  not  been 
committed  to  writing,  and  that  we  must  rather  follow  therefore  the 
example  of  those  fathers,  who  confined  themselves  always  to  the 
bible  alone.     In  the  discussion  on  the  doctrine  of  justification  a 

subjective,  and  a  tradition  in  the  objective  sense.  The  first  is  nothing 
more  than  "the  Christian  sense  belonging  to  the  Church,  and  handing 
itself  down  by  means  of  Church  training,  the  word  continuously  living 
in  the  hearts  of  the  faithful  ;"  the  same  thing  thus  with  what  Schlei- 
ERMACHER  Styles  the  Christian  consciousness.  Tradition  in  the  objec- 
tive sense  is  made  to  be  "the  aggregate  faith  of  the  Church  through 
all  ages  as  exhibited  in  external  historical  testimonies."  But  this  is 
to  say  nothing  characteristic  of  it  as  distinguished  from  the  sacred 
scriptures,  which  also  belong  to  the  aggregate  faith  of  the  Church  in 
this  form.  It  is  easy  enough,  in  such  fashion,  to  escape  the  difficulties 
of  the  case;  which  begin  precisely  where  it  comes  to  the  question  of 
the  concrete  contents  of  tradition  as  differing  from  the  bible.  . 


76 

still  more  considerable  want  ofunity  appeared.  The  archbishop > 
of  Sienna,  the  bishop  della  Cava,  Giulio  Contarini  bishop  of 
Belluno,  and  wiih  them  live  theologians,  joined  in  declaring  faith 
to  be  the  only  ground  of  juslilication,  love  and  hope  its  attendants, 
and  works  its  evidence  or  proof;  whilst  the  general  of  the  Au- 
gustinians,  Seripando,  brought  forward  the  view  of  Gaspar  Con- 
tarini, which  took  a  middle  course  between  the  two  systems. 

But  the  voice  of  history,  with  its  thousand  tongues,  is  over- 
whelmed, not  answered,  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  with  the  declara- 
tion that  she  is  absolutely  infallible,  the  unerring  organ  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  to  which  all  private  judgment,  all  historical  inquiry, 
must  yield  implicit  submission.*  To  this  point  in  the  end  the 
whole  controversy  of  right  comes  ;  with  it  the  entire  Roman 
Catholic  system  stands  or  falls.  But  this  highest  principle  pre- 
cisely of  the  infallibility  of  the  papal  hierarchy,  like  the  highest 
principle  of  most  philosophical  systems,  is  merely  asserted,  netjer 
proved.  It  forms  the  p'o^o/ijosewrfos,  the  grand  falsehood,  on 
which  the  whole  system  rests  ;  and  at  the  same  time  its  central 
sin,  creature  deification,  making  itself  identical  with  the  universal 
Church,  yea,  with  the  absolute  kingdom  of  God,  out  of  which  all 
are  heretics  only  and  children  of  perdition. 

Protestantism  hps  shaken  this  foundation  from  its  place.  It 
plants  itself  on  the  principle,  that  infallibility  belongs  to  Christ 
and  his  word  alone,  and  to  all  else  so  far  only  as  it  may  be  joined 
to  him  in  living  union.  This  union  however,  m  the  present  world, 
is  progressive,  and  so  always  incomplete.  In  the  case  of  the 
single  Christian,  this  is  as  clear  as  day.  As  in  the  best  works 
of  the  regenerate  sin  still  continues  to  work  with  more  or  less 
power,  so  that  they  can  never  become  the  ground  of  justification  ; 
so  also  error  still  cleaves  to  his  knowledge,  as  long  as  he  taber- 
nacles in  the   body,  and  on  this  account  the  truth  which  is  unto 

*  The  Council  of  Trent  of  course  takes  this  position  every  where 
for  granted,  and  utters  all  its  decisions  accordingly.  In  the  nature  of 
the  case,  at  the  same  time,  it  could  not  be  subjected  to  particular  in- 
vestigation and  proof.  This  would  have  been  nothing  less  than  a 
pedtio principii  ;  since  to  be  able  to  show  its  divine  authority,  the  Sy- 
nod must  have  assumed  the  fact  as  already  given.  The  Cat.  Rom.  I.. 
10,  18.  ascribes  to  the  Roman  Cliurch,  and  to  this  exclusively,  freedom, 
from  all  error  in^f/et  ac  moruni  discip/ina  fradenda  ;  and  so  liliewise  Bel- 
LARMiNE  eccl.  mi  lit.  c.  14.  Nostra  sentenlia  est  ecc/esmm  absolute  non 
posse  errare,  nee  in  rebus  absolute  n<-cessariis,  nee  in  aliis,  quae  creden- 
da  vel  facienda  nobis  proponit,  sive  habeantur  expresse  in  scripturis, , 
sive  non  :  et  quum  dicimus,  ecclesiam  non  posse  errare,  id  intelligimus 
tam  de  universitate  fidelium  quam  de  universitate  episcoporum. 


\         n 

salvation  can  never  be  built  on  human  tradition.  For  error  and 
sin  are  ever  inseparably  related,  like  the  understanding  and  the 
will.  Sin  is  practical  error,  and  error  is  theoretic  sin.  If  this 
hold  in  the  case  of  the  individual,  it  is  hard  to  see  why  the  same 
should  not  be  true  of  the  Church  also,  since  this  is  nothing  else 
than  the  organic  complex  of  individual  Christians.  A  bishop 
does  not  become  another  man,  in  appearing  as  the  member  of  a 
Synod,  made  free  as  by  a  magic  wand  from  error  and  sin.  As 
little  is  this  the  case  with  the  whole  body.  Many  sinners  make 
no  saint,  many  blind  no  one  with  the  gift  of  sight,  as  little  as  a 
quantity  of  wood  can  yield  iron,  or  a  quantity  of  stones  breadv 
Error  and  truth  differ  not  gradually,  but  specifically.  If  the 
Church  militant  then  be  not  free  from  sin,  which  no  one  in  the 
face  of  history  will  maintain,  so  neither  is  she  free  from  error. 
True,  she  has  the  unerring  word  of  God,  and  is  styled  by  Paul 
"the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth."  The  truth  accordingly  can 
never  disappear  from  her  communion  ;  and  this  is  the  right  and 
sound  side  of  the  Roman  Catholic  dogma.  But  this  by  no  means 
involves  the  idea  of  a  positive  infallibility.  Rather,  the  Church 
has  error  along  witl)  tjie  truth,  by  v^'biph  this  may  be  corrupted; 
and  obscured,  though  never  absolutely  lost.  She  bears  the  gol- 
den treasure  in  earthen  vessels  ;  along  with  her  ideal,  divine  na- 
ture, she  possesses  also  a  real,  human  existence,  which  is  subject 
to  the  conditions  of  the  finite,  and  thus  also  'ib  ♦he  laws  of  process 
and  growth.  In  the  Church  herself,  as  well  as  in  her  members 
singly  taken,  we  nriust  distinguish  difl^erent  periods  of  life.  She  is. 
not  made  perfect  at  once,  but  is  engaged  in  a  gradual  process  of 
development,  whjch  holds  just  in  this,  that  she  is  ever  extrica- 
ting herself  more  and  more  from,  the  Judaism  and  Paganism,  sin 
and  error,  that  still  cleave  to  her  by  nature  ;  by  entering  always 
more  deeply  into  the  word  of  God,  in  her  hands  but  not  for  this 
reason  fully  understood  from  the  beginning  ;  and  by  incorpora- 
ting it  more  fully  always  with  her  thinking,  feeling  and  acting  ; 
till  in  the  end  she  shall  appear  the  full  grown  body  of  Christ, 
without  spot  or  wrinkle,  infirmity  or  disease,  thus  ceasing  at  the 
same  time  to  be  a  militant  Church,  and  passing  over  into  the 
kingdom  of  God  triumphant. 

For  every  unprejudiced  person,  history  confirms  this  by  incon-. 
trovertible  facts.  Even  the  most  celebrated  councils  have  been, 
sufficiently  characterised  by  contention  and  strife,  contradictory 
feelings  and  views  ;^  and  human  passions  and  errors  have 
come  into  play  in  their  proceedings,  as  fully  as  in  other  places. 
Add  to  this,  that  popes  and  councils  have  not  unfrequently  ap- 
peared in  direct  contradiction  ;  a  circumstance  fatal  at  once  to  the 


78 

claim  'of  infallibility.  Thus,  in  tfie  Arian  controversy,  several 
synods,  just  as  large  and  constitutional  as  those  afterwards  ac- 
knowledged to  be  orthodox,  declared  in  favor  o'this  heresy  ;  and 
while  the  Council  of  Constantinople  a.  754,  by  imperial  will  the 
Seventh  Oecumenical,  composed  of  300  bishops,  fanatically 
damned  all  religious  images,  the  next  universal  synod,  held  at 
Nice  a.  787,  proclaimed  the  whole  proceeding  to  be  wind.  More 
frequent  still  have  been  the  cases  of  contrariction  on  the  part  of 
the  popes,  among  themselves,  and  especially  to  the  Church  as  re-, 
presented  by  the  great  reformatory  synods  of  Constance  and  Ba- 
sel ;  so  that  with  regard  to  this  point,  the  Roman  theologians 
themselves  have  not  been  able  to  agree. 

The  Protestant  Church  however  can  appeal,  in  favor  of  her 
view,  not  simply  to  the  history  of  councils  and  popes,,  but  also  to 
the  express  testimony  of  the  most  ancient  Church  fathers  ;  as 
Atiianasius  and  Augustiine,  for  exam[)le,  without  qualification. 
allow  the  possibilifi/  of  error  even  in  the  highest  administration, 
of  the  Church.*  The  idea  of  a  posit've  infallibility,  excluding 
all  and  every  error,  and  clothmg  the  decisions  of  councils  with 
the  character  of  divine  oracles,  was  first  uttered  by  the  Council 
of  Chalcedon,  A.  D.  451,  with  reference  tr>  that  of  Nice  ;  whose 
decrees,  it  was  direcUy  affirmed,  were  given  not  by  the  fathers  of 
the  synod  themselvp?,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost  speaking  through^ 
their  persons. 

If  there  be  then  any  unerring  fountain  of  truth,  needed  to  sa- 
tisfy religious  want,  it  can  be  found  only  in  the  trord  of  God^ 
who  is  himself  the  truth  ;  and  this  becomes  thus  consequently 
the  highest  nor??*  and  ride,  by  which  to  measure  all  human  truth,, 
all  ecclesiastical    tradition,  and  all  synodical  decrees. f     Having 


*  Thus  the  l^st  de  haptismo  contra  Donatist.  11,  3.  says  :  Quis  nesciat 
S.  Scripturam  omnibus  episcoporutn  literis  ita  praeponi,  ut  de  ilia  oni- 
nino  dubitari  et  disceptari  non  possit,  episcoporuiu  aufem  literas  per 
sermonem  forte  sapie..t.iorem  eujuslibet  in  en  re  peritioris,  et  per  alio- 
rum  episcopornra  graviorem  auctoritatein  doctiorenjque  priidentiam  e.t 
per  concilia  licere  reprehendi,  si  quid  in  eis  forte  a  veritate  deviatum 
est:  et  ipsa  conoilia,  quae  por  singulas  provincias  ^amU  pkiiariorum 
conci liorurn  ■^^lCtont:lil  quae  fiunt  ex  universn  orbe  ckristiano^  sine  ullis> 
arabagibus  cedere,  iosaque  plcnaria  saepe  priora  posterioribus  cmcnilariy 
quum  aliquo  experimentp  rerum  apcritur  quod  clausum  erat  et  cognos- 
citur  quod  latebat.  If  the  general  councils  themselves  admit  and  re- 
quire thus  improvement  and  correction  from  those  that  follow,'thcy 
cannot  be  infallible. 

t  ,flrtic.  Sinak.  I.  2,  15.  (p.  308.)  :  Ex  patnim  verbis  et  factJs  non 
sunt  extruendi  articuli  fidei....  Regulam  autem  aiiam  h^bemus,  ut  vide-. 


in  this  way  no  rival  at  their  side,  the  sacred  scriptures  must  take 
a  far  hi-her  place  in  the  protestant  system  than  they  are  allowed 
to  hold  in  that  ol'  Rome,  similarly  to  the  view  taken  of  faith  also 
in  the  two  (Jhuiches.  Ourolder  thei.lo.!,ians  cannot  be  charged  cer- 
tainly with  any  want  o^  respfict  for  the  bible  ;  rather  fault  is  to  be 
found  with  the  inspiraiion  theory  ol'ihe  17th  Century,  that  it  did 
not  sufficiently  recognis*^  the  individuality  of  the  sacred  writers, 
which  without  the  least  prejudice  to  the  divinity  of  the  matter, 
mirrors  it  nevertheless  in  every  case  under  a  peculiar  form. 
These  bible  fathers,  as  I  may  style  them  with  Daub,  have  re- 
solved the  excellence  predicated  ol  the  scriptures  into  the  following 
properttes.  1.  The  character  of  font al  and  normal  authority 
immediately  in  view.  2.  Perfection  as  to  compass  and  contents 
(perfectto  s.  svjicientia.)  ; '  noi  of  course  in  the  absolute  sense,  as 
containing  all  that  can  possibly  be  known  of  God  and  divine 
things  ;  but  relatively,  reaching  to  all  that  is  necessary  to  salva- 
tion, as  distinctly  expressed  in  the  symbolical  hooka  (continet  om- 
nia, quae  ad  salutem  coiisequendain  sunt  necessaria.)  All  tradi- 
tions accordingly,  unless  they  be  mere  consequences  drawn  from 
the  bible,  are  either  positively  false,  or  contain  only  subordinate 
and  unessential  truth.*    It  might  be  presumed  indeed  beforehand, 

licet  verbum  Dei  condat  articulos  fidei,  at  praeterea  nemo,  ne  ang-elus 
quidem.  Luther,  as  early  as  ihe  conference  at  Augsburg  would  be 
^'confuted  only  from  the  scriptures  ;"  and  at  Worms,  as  is  known,  he 
put  forward  the  testinwnia  scripturarum,  and  declared  his  conscience 
bound  by  God's  word.  Foriji.  Qwf.  praef.  p,  510.,  where  the  bible  is 
styled  mnca  regula  et  norma  ofall  doctrines  ;  also  sol.  ded.  p  632.  — 
The  Reformed  Church  proclaims  this  formal  principle  throughout  with 
still  more  distinctness  and  decision  ;  so  that  it  is  almost  superfluous  to 
refer  to  proof-passages.  Omf.  Hdv.  II.  art.  1,  2.  (p.  467  sqq.),  .iWzc. 
Anglic,  art.  6.  Conf.  Belu;.  art.  3—5.  (p.  361  sq.),  Conf.  Gallic,  art. 
2—5.  (p.  329  sq.),  Conf.  Westmonast.  c.   1.  §  1—10. 

*  ScHLEiERMACHER  {Bcr  cliristl.  Glauhc,  Vol.  2  §  103.  p.  120  f.  3d 
ed.)  says  with  much  truth  :  "This  original  revelation  of  God  in  Christ 
is  moreover  so  sufficient,  and  at  the  seme  time  so  inexhaustible,  that  so 
far  as  this  first  point  is  concerned  Christ  stands  forth  at  once  as  the 
crown  and  consummation  of  all  prophecy.  For  it  is  not  possible,  ei- 
ther for  any  representation  of  our  relation  to  God  to  take  place,  out  of 
the  sphere  in  which  Christ  is  already  known,  that  shall  not  fall  behind 
this  revelation  ;  or  for  any  such  advance  ever  to  be  m.ade  within  the 
Christian  Church,  as  may  show  any  thing  imperfect  in  the  doctrine  of 
Christ  itself,  for  which  something  better  might  be  substituted,  or  to 
conceive  for  the  understanding  of  man,  as  it  regards  his  relation  to 
God,  anythina  more  spiritual,  deep  and  complete,  than  has  been  done 
by  Christ.  With  the  idea  of  such  a  perfectibility  cf  the  Christian  doc- 
trine, as  might  allow  us  to  go  beyond  Christ  himself,  the  idea  of  his 


80 

that  the  divine  wisdom  and  goodness,  in  the  case  of  the  new  cove- 
nant as  well  as  in  that  of  the  old,  would  provide  for  a  true  and 
full  record  of  the  truth,  as  needed  for  salvation,  in  a  written  form  ; 
since  a  merely  oral  tradition,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  must  be 
subject  to  change  and  distortion,  making  it  impossible  at  last  to 
distinguish  truth  from  falsehood.  In  such  passages  as  Acts  20  : 
27.  26  :  22.  2  Tim.  3  :  14—17.  Gal.  I  :  8.  Rev.  22  :  18.  the 
scriptures  ascribe  this  character  lo  themselves  quite  directly  ;  and 
the  claim  is  made  good  continually  in  practical  life.  The  more 
any  one  enters  into  the  contents  of  the  bible,  the  more  he  learns 
to  say  with  Luther,  that  it  resembles  an  herb,  that  by  every  rub- 
bing becomes  only  the  more  odoriferous,  a  tree,  that  by  every 
shaking  throws  down  only  a  richer  supply  of  golden  apples. 
Every  valuable  exegetical  work  discloses  to  us  new  treasures  ; 
and  our  Church,  after  having  lived  upon  it  already  three  hundred 
years,  must  still  with  Paul  exclaim  in  amazement,  "  O  the  depth 
of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  I" — 3. 
As  it  regards  form,  the  bible  has  the  quality  of  Perspicuity  (per- 
spicuitas)  ;  not  absolutely  again,  as  excluding  every  mystery  ; 
but  so,  as  that  all  things  indispensably  necessary  to  salvation  may 
be  known  by  every  member  of  the  Church  from  the  scriptures, 
without  the  aid  of  tradition  or  councils,  if  only  the  proper  condi- 
tions are  at  hand  for  the  purpose.  These  include  not  simply  the 
fijeneral  command  of  intellect  and  knowledge  that  are  requisite  for 
the  understanding  of  every  human  book,  by  which  the  loose  spirit- 
ualism of  the  Quakers  is  disowned,  but  a  living  sense  also  of 
spiritual  need,  and  a  proper  affinity  with  the  Spirit  from  which 
the  scriptures  proceed.  And  here  the  Protestant  Church  appears 
in  full  opposition  to  Rationalism,  in  the  case  of  which  the  natural 
understanding,  that  cannot  discern  the  things  of  the  Spirit  accord- 
ing to  Paul,  (1  Cor.  2  :  14.  13  :  3.  2  Cor.  3  :  5.)  is  made  the 
principle  of  interpretation.  That  it  is  properly  the  Holy  Ghost 
only  which  can  interpret  the  scriptures,  is  admitted  by  the  Ro- 
mish Church  also  ;  and  so  all  controversy  here  turns  upon  the 
question,  Where  is  this  Holy  Ghost  1*     The  Church  of  Rome  of 

peculiar  excellence  must  fall  to  the  ground.  On  the  contrary,  all  later 
excellence  here  can  never  be  anything  else,  than  the  right  development 
of  what  is  either  comprehended  in  his  declarations  as  handed  down  to 
\is,  or  in  such  relation  to  them  as  to  have  been  necessarily  present  to 
his  mind."  That  Schleiermacher  has  in  his  mind  the  contents  of  the 
bible  here,  as  the  measure  which  none  can  transcend,  m\ist  be  clear  to 
all  who  are  acquainted  with  his  system. 

*  Bellarmine  de  verb.  Dei  3,  3.  Convenit  inter  nos  et  adversaries, 
flcripturas  intelligi  debere  eo  spiritu,  quo  factae  sunt,  i.  e.  spiritu  sanctov 
Toto  igitur  quaestio  in  eo  posita  est,  ubi  sit  iste  spiritus. 


course  arrogates  its  presence,  and  with  this  the  right  interpreta- 
tion of  the  bible,  entirely  to  herself,  her  bishops  and  her  popes  ; 
and  thus  in  iact  exalts  herself  above  the  bible,  as  its  infallible 
judge.*  The  Protestant,  on  the  other  hand,  binds  the  Spirit, 
that  "bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  not  to  a  particular  form  and  sec- 
tion of  the  Church,  but  to  the  word  alone,  {comp.  John  8  :  31, 
32.).  Where  the  word  is  read  and  preached,  there  the  Spirit 
lives  and  moves  and  creates  light  ;  that  is,  in  other  words,  the 
scriptures  interpret  themselves.f  When  notwithstanding  contro- 
versies arise,  as  they  unavoidably  must,  and  opposite  parties  con- 
tend for  different  senses  of  the  word  in  their  own  favor,  the  Pro- 
testant requires,  it  is  true,  a  subjection  of  the  individual  to 
some  general  authority  ;  whether  it  be  a  small  body  of  theo- 
logians, as  that  which  framed  the  Form  of  Concord,  or  a  re- 
gular synod,  as  of  Dort,  Westminster,  &c.,  which  establish- 
es a  standard  of  faith  for  all  within  its  jurisdiction.  On 
this  ground,  it  is  known,  the  Reformers  were  earnestly  ur- 
gent for  a  general  council,  in  which  the  controversies  of  the 
time  might  be  decided.  But  here  still  this  important  difference 
prevails  between  the  Protestant  and  Romish  systems,  that  in  the 
view  of  the  first  no  such  ecclesiastical  authority  is  permitted  to 
draw  its  decisions  from  tradition,  but  always  again  from  the  bible 
itself  only  ;  and  thus  the  principle  of  its  self-interpretation  in  the 
Holy  Ghost  remains  unimpaired.:}: — 4.  The  last  character  of  the 

*  Bellarmine  1.  c.  3,  9.  has  poorly  sustained  his  usual  logical  acu- 
men at  this  point.  He  maintains,  that  as  the  bible  is  the  subject  of 
controversy,  we  must  not  appeal  to  it  as  judge  in  the  case,  but  only  to 
something  external  to  it,  that  is  the  Church.  But  the  Church  is  also  a 
party  ;  and  so  not  qualified  to  act  as  judge,  unless  in  the  most  partial, 
and  ni  the  worst  sense,  extra-biblical  style. 

■j"  Scriptura  sacra  est  suiipsius  legitimus  interpres.  Comp.  especially 
the  Reformed  symbols;  for  example,  Cc//.  Helv.ll.c.2.  (p.  469.)": 
illam  duntaxat  scripturarum  intepretationem  pro  orthodoxa  et  genuina 
agnoscimus,  quae  ex  ipsis  est  petita  scripturis...  cum  regula  fidei  et 
caritatis  congruit  et  ad  gloriam  Dei  hominumque  salutem  eximie  facit. 

j;.  The  Lutheran  divines  distinguish  accordingly  thus  :  (1  .)Index prin- 
cipalis est  spiritus  s.  (2.)  judex  instrumentalis  est  s.  scriptura.  (3.)  jud. 
-minisierialis  (also  infenor)'  est  ministerium  ecclesiasticum.  This  last 
however  may  not  '-pro  suo  arbitrio  sententiara  pronunciare,  sed  juxta 
norniam  a  supremo  judice  praescriptam,  videl.  juxta  scripturam  s., 
quam  propterea  vocem  judicis  supremi  et  normam  judicis  inferioris  et 
judicem  directivum  appellamus."  Calvin  treats  of  the  point  Instil. 
IV.  c.  9.  §  13.  where  the  remarkable  passage  occurs  :  "Nos  certe  liben- 
ter  concedimus,  si  quo  de  dogmate  incidat  disceptatio,  nullum  esse  nee 
melius  nee  certius  remedium,  quam  si  verorum  episcoporum  Synodus 
conveniat,  ubi  controversum  dogma  excutiatur.     Multo  enim  plus  pon- 

8 


82 

scriptures  is  the  power  (ejicacia)  with  which  they  operate  tlironcrh 
the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  soul  of  man,  in  the  way  of  illumination  and 
renewal.  This  however  is  of  no  essential  consequence  to  our 
present  investigation. 

^  When  all  this  is  taken  together,  we  may  say,  leaving  out  of 
view  a  number  of  the  fathers  and  mediaeval  divines,  very  promi- 
nent men  it  is  true,  that  the  holy  scriptures  were  first  instated  in 
their  proper  rights,  in  a  general  way,  by  the  Reformers.  It  is 
felt  accordingly  to  be  a  sacred  duty  with  Protestantism,  which  in 
this  view  also  forms  a  decided  advance  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  to  circulate  them  as  widely  as  possible  in  the  lanauages 
accessible  to  the  people;  whilst  it  lies  in  the  interest  of  popery 
universally,  to  restrain  their  circulation,  and  to  anathomatise 
all  bible  societies;  under  the  convenient  plea  of  course,  that  the 
editions  are  heretical,  and  the  translation  corrupt. 

We  are  now  to  investigate  the  relation  of  the  Protestant  bible 
principle  to  tradition  ;  or  the  place  assigned  to  tradition  in  the 
protestnnt  system.  To  do  justice  however  to  this  difficult  j)oint, 
we  must  first  reduce  the  idea  to  its  constituent  parts;  since  the 
word  is  used  in  very  different  senses,  and  by  the  Council  of  Trent 
in  particular  is  made  so  general,  as  to  embrace  the  whole  mass  of 
what  has  been  handed  down  in  the  Church.  We  may  take  up 
the  whole  compass  of  its  meaning,  under  the  distinciion  oCj-itual, 
historical,  and  dogmatic  tradiiion".  To  all  these  forms,  the 
general  relation  of  Protestantism  is  such,  that  it  affirms  'iheir 
historical  necessity,  whilst  at  the  same  time  it  places  'them  neither 
parallel  with  the  scriptures,  nor  over  them,  hut  under  them  onli/, 
and  measures  their  value  by  the  extent  of  their  agreement  with 
this  standard. 

1.  The  first  class  corresponds  in  the  main,  with  what  Bellar- 
MiNE  styles  ecclesiastical  traditions.  It  comprises  the  ancient 
customs  and  usages,  pertaining  to  order  and  worship,  which  have 
gradually  acquired  the  character  of  catholicity  ;  for  example,  the 

<1eris  habebitejusmodi  definitio,  in  quam  eommuniter  ecclesianim  pas- 
tores,  invocuto  Christi  spiritu,  consenserint,  qiiam  si  quisque  seorsuin 
domi  coticeptam  populo  traderet,  vel  pauci  homines  privatim  earn  con- 
ficerent."  He  then  goes  on  to  establish  this  view,  in  part  exegetically 
(from  I  Cor.  14  :  29.),  in  part  historically  ;  adding  in  the  end  however 
that  the  Holy  Chost  may  forsake  an  entire  synod,  so  that  the  decisions 
of  such  a  body  are  not  necessarily  Tree  froiri  error,  as  history  shows. 
Hoc  autem  perpetuum  esse  nego,  ut  vera  sit  et  certa  scripturae  interpre- 
tatio,  quae  concilii  suffragiis  fuerit  recepta. 


distinctions  of  the  clergy,  the  Church  festivals,  the  arrangement  of 
divine  service,  the  specifications  of  Church  discipline,  and  the 
whole  ran<J"e  of  Church  symbolism,  as  the  custom  of  praying  with 
the  face  towards  the  Kast,  the  consecration  of  the  baptismal  wa- 
ter, making  the  sign  of  the  cross,  &c.  That  these  points  in  gen- 
eral were  established  after  the  age  of  the  apostles,  needs  in  the 
present  posture  of  historical  inquiry  no  farther  argument.  It  en- 
tered not  into  the  design  of  Christ  and  the  apostles,  to  lay  down 
more  ihan  the  most  essential  ground  regulations  for  the  order  and 
worship  of  the  Church.  They  wished  not  to  burden  the  new  or- 
ganization with  forms  and  ceremonies.  This  would  have  been 
wholly  contrary  also  to  the  free  genius  of  the  gospel,  which  was 
expected  rather  to  create  its  own  body  according  to  time  and  cir- 
cumstances, as  its  wants  might  require  (comp.  Rom,  14.  Gal,  4  :. 
9,  10.  5:  4.  Coloss,  2  :  16 — 18.).  To  insist  on  owe  constitu- 
tion and  one  worship,  as  alone  true  and  valid,  in  the  case  at  least 
of  the  militant  Church,  is  to  fall  back  again  into  fleshly  Judaism. 
So  in  the  Church  of  Rome  itself,  many  primitive  customs  have 
gone  into  disuse,  amJ  others  again  have  been  introduced  much 
later,  which  now  form  an  essential  part  of  the  system  ;  as  the 
papacy  in  its  present  form,  the  pomp  connected  with  the  mass, 
the  splended  clerical  attire,  the  festivals  of  jMary  and  the  saints,, 
the  details  with  regard  to  fasts  and  penances,  praying  by  the 
rosary,  and  the  like.  Now  in  all  these  secondary  things,  Pro- 
testantism recognises  throughout  no  normative  force,  as  is  done 
by  the  Church  of  Rome,  but  claims  the  right  to  exercise  a  free, 
evangelical  criticism  in  the  case  ;  rejecting  absolutely  all  thatcon-j 
flicts  with  the  true  life  of  the  Church,  and  serves  merely  to  pro- 
mote a  dead  mechanical  religion  ;  whilst  it  retains  only  what  is 
found  to  embody  with  suitable  form  and  expression  the  Christian 
spirit.*     As  however  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  the  Church 

*  Conf.  Jug.  art.  15.  (p.  13  sq.)  :  De  ritibus  ecclesiasticis  decent, 
quod  ritus  illi  servandi  sint,  qui  sine  peccato  servari  possunt  etprosunt 
ad  tranquillitatem  et  bonuai  ordinem  in  ecclesia,  sicut  certae  feriae, 
festa  et  similia.  De  talibus  rebus  tamen  admonentur  homines,  ne  con- 
scientiae  onerentnr,  taniquam  talis  cultas  ad  salutem  necessarias  sit. 
Admonentur  etiam,  quod  traditiones  humanae  institutae  ad  placandura 
Deum,  et  promerendam  gratiam  et  satisfaciendum  pro  peccatis,  adver- 
sentur  evangelio  et  doctrinae  fidei.  Quare  vota  et  traditiones  de  cibis 
et  diebus  etc.  institutae  ad  promerendam  gratiam  et  satisfaciendum  pro 
peccatis  inutiles  sintet  contra  evangelium.  Comp.  art.  22  (p.  20.  falsa 
enim  calumnia  etc.),  and  the  whole  admirable  8th  section  in  the  JpoL 
Conf.  de  traditionibus  humanis  in  eccles.  p.  205 — 223.  Chemnitz,  in 
his  F.xam.  lays  down  in  relation  to  ritual  traditions  the  following  very 
sound  rule  :,  Ceremoniae  in  ecclesia  sint  genere  indifFerentes,  numero 


84 

had  well  nigh  petrified  in  these  outward  forms,  with  the  loss  in  a 
great  measure  of  all  inward  life,  as  it  was  with  Judaism  at  the 
time  of  Christ  ;  whilst  the  apostolic  age,  as  far  as  we  can  gather 
from  the  New  Testament,  was  characterised  by  the  greatest  sim- 
plicity and  spirituality  ;  ii  was  quite  natural  that  the  Reformers 
should  have  been  carried  too  far  at  times  in  opposition  to  the  exist- 
ing system.  At  the  same  time,  this  was  not  the  case  so  much 
with  the  Lutheran  and  German  Reformed  Church,  as  it  was  with 
the  Reformed  Church  in  Scotland  and  France.  For  the  Romanic 
nations,  and  the  Englic>h  also,  are  much  more  disposed  to  attach 
an  undue  value  to  Ibrm,  than  the  inward  minded,  idealistic  Ger- 
mans ;  and  for  this  very  reason,  it  was  natural  for  them,  when 
the  spirit  was  roused  to  the  consciousness  and  assertion  of  its  su- 
perior rights,  to  fall  over  unduly  to  the  opposite  side,  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  one  extreme  begets  another.  Puritanism  in  particular,  I 
am  constrained  here  openly  to  acknowledge,  through  a  false  spirit- 
ualistic tendency  and  an  utter  misapprehension  of  the  sij^nificance 
of  the  corporeal  and  outward,  showed  itself  in  this  case  rash  in  its 
zeal,  and,  has  sacrificed  many  beautiful  customs,  by  which  reli- 
gious ideas  were  sweetly  interwoven  with  common  life,  and  out- 
ward opportunities  continually  supplied  for  the  favorable  applica- 
tion of  tr;uth  to  the  heart.  All  this,  it  is  much  more  difficult  to 
recover,  than  to  cast  away.  It  is  always  more  easy  to  destroy, 
than  it  is  to  build.  The  culminating  point  of  this  abstract  spirit- 
ualism has  been  reached  in  the  system  of  the  Quaker  ;  which  re- 
jects even  the  ministry  and  the  sacraments  as  mere  forms  ;  but 
strangely  enough,  against  its  own  will,  swings  clear  over  at  the 
same  time  to  the  very  opposite  extreme.  For  of  all  others,  the 
Quakers  are  the  greatest  slaves  of  form,  and  the  most  barren  and 
unmeaning  besides  in  their  profession  ;  a  palpable  satire  upon  all 
such  naked  inwardism,  an  involuntary  argument  for  the  necessity 
of  externalization. 

2.  To  the  historical  tradition  must  be  referred,  as  of  first  ac- 
count, the  testimonies  of  Christian  antiquity  on  the  genuineness 
and  integrity  of  the  sacred  books,  the  time  and  place  of  their  com- 
position, and  the  settlement  of  the  canon.  This  tradition  the 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  Church  hold  to  be  of  great  account,  and 
they  have  retained,  as  is  known,  the  canon  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
But  still  faith  in  the  scriptures  is  made  to  rest,  in  the  end,  not  on 
these  testimonies  of  the   fathers,  but  on  the  inward  testimony  of 

paucae,  sint  piae  et  utiles  ad  aedificationem,  ordinem  et  decorum  ;  ha- 
beant  extra  casum  scandali  liberas  observationes. — Covf.  Helv.  IL  art. 
27.  (p.  530  sq.). 


73 

tihclion  between  the- divine  and  human  is  thus  unsettled.  This 
pantheistic  feature  runs  through  the  whole  system,  culminating 
in  the  respect  shown  towards  ihe  pope,  as  lawluUy  holding  and 
exercising  the  threefold  office  of  Christ'  himself.  Too  much 
again  is  iTllowed  to  human  ageney  in  the  formation  of  the  sacred 
scriptures,  by  limiting  the  inspiration  of  tire  Holy  Ghost  to  mere 
assistance  and  guidance,  {assistentia  et  direcHo).^  Still  farthef, 
the  Latin  translation  of  Jerojie,  a  work  of  course  proceeding 
from  a  particular  Church  position  and  reflecting  its  image,  is  not 
only  placed  on  a  par  with  the  original  text,  but  in  actual  use  pre- 
ferred to  it  altogether.*  In  the  fourth  place,  the  charge  of  dark- 
ness  and  ambiguity  is  brought  against  the  scriptures  ;t  whence 
tradition  is  held  to  be  necessary  for  their  interpretation  ;  and  it  is 
counselled  that  the  laity  should  not  read  them,  except  in  cases  of 
special   qualification,  of  which  the  bishop  is  to  be  the  judge.§  In  • 


the  protestants,  for  rejecting  the  Apocrypha,  are  laid  under  an  ana- 
thema. 

%  Bellarmine  Be  verbo  div.  1,  15.  Aliter  Dens  adfuit  prophetis, 
aliter  historicis.  lUis  revelavit  futura  et  simul  ad&titit,  ne  aliqiiid  fcilsi 
admiscerent  in  scribendo;  his  non  semper  revelavit  ea,  quae  scripturi 
erant,  sed  excitavit  duntaxat,  ut  scriberent  ea,  quae  vel  viderant,  vel 
audierant,  quornm  recordabantur,  et  simul  adstitit,  ne  quid  falsi  scribe- 
rent,  quae  assistentia  non  excludehat  laborem.  The  Jesuits  proceeded 
farther,  and  admitted  without  reserve  the  possibility  of  error,  and  even 
of  falsehood  outright  in  the  gospels  ;  as,  for  example.  Alb.  Pighi  Hier- 
arch,  eccles.  1,2.  Matthaeus  et  loannes  evangelistae  potueiunt  et /aOi 
menioria  et  mentiri  etc. 

*  Cone.  Trid.  S.  IV,  deer,  de  edit,  et  usa  s.  libr.,  where  the  vulgate 
is  pronounced  aufheniica,  and  the  rejection  of  it,  that  is  all  departure 
from  it  in  interpretation,  is  prohibited.  Comp.  Bellarmine  de  verbo 
Dei  II.  10.,  who  with  proper  consequence  maintains,  that  the  Vulgate  is 
free  Irom  all  material  error  in  translation. 

f  Comp.  Klee's  katholische  Bogmatik,  vol.  1.  p.  277.  2nd  ed. 
LiNDANUS  (de  opt.  script,  interpret.)  is  not  ashamed  to  say  even,  that 
the  scriptures  without  the  aid  of  tradition  have  no  more  value  than 
Aesop's  Fables  :  Sacram  scripturam,  si  auctoritas  ecclesiae  disidera- 
tur,  non  plus  per  se  valere  quam  Aesopi  fabulas.  Comp.  also  the  Lir 
siructiun  pas' ovale  I.  of  Bossuet,  cap.  43. 

§  The  symbols,  it  is  true,  are  silent  on  the  point,  and  in  all  time? 
there  have  been  Catholics  who  have  earnestly  recommended  the  study 
of  the  bible.  (Comp.  Extracts  on  the  necessity  and  use  of  bible  read- 
ino-,  from  the  fathers  and  other  catholic  writings,  by  Leander  v.  Ess, 
2nd  ed.  Sulzbach  1816).  But  in  strict  Roman  catholic  lands,  such  as 
Italy  and  Spain,  the  people  are  fearfully  ignorant  of  the  bible,  and  the 
priests  oppose  every  effort  of  the  protestants  to  circulate  it,  frequently. 


74' 

short,  the  whole  tendency  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  forr 
its  object,  to  subordinate  the  bible  to  tradition,  and  then  to  make 
itself  the  infallible  judge  of  both  ;  with  power  to  determine  at 
pleasure  what  is  God's  word  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and 
to  anathematise  every  thing  that  may  go  beyond  its  past  decisions, 
even  though,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Reibrmation  and  Jansenism,  it 
should  be  an  actual  deepening  of  the  Christian  consciousness 
itself. 

As  already  remarked,  tradition  in  the  Romish  sense,  is  the  un- 
written portion  of  divine  revelation  ;  by  which  is  meant  simply, 
that  it  was  not  committed  to  writing  in  the  beginning  by  its 
author,  however  it  may  have  been  reduced  to  this  form  since  in 
the  symbolical  books  and  other,  productions  of  the  Church.  Its 
contents  are  partly  expository  and  partly  supplementary  to  the 
bible  ;  it  springs  in  part  from  Christ  himself,  and  in  part  from 
the  apostles  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  it  is  thus  of 
like  origin  and  like  dignity  with  the  written  word  ;  and  has  trans- 
mitted itself  through  the  Church  all  along,  pure  and  true,  under 
the  constant  care  of  God's  Spirit.*     Articles  of  tradition  are, 

indeed  have  committed  large  numbers  of  bibles  to  the  flames.  It  is  a 
fact  farther,  that  the  reading  of  the  scriptures  has  been  prohibited  to  the 
laity  by  several  popes,  from  Gregory  VII.  down  to  our  own  time,  and 
also  by  several  provincial  councils  ;  as  the  C.  Tolosanum  a.  1229. 
{can.  14.  Prohibemus  etiam,  ne  libros  Vet.  T.  aut  N.  laici  permittan-- 
tur  habere,  nisi  forte  Psalterium  vel  Breviarium  pro  divinis  officiis  aut 
horas  B.  Mariae  aliquis  ex  devotione  habere  velit,  Sed  ne  praemissos 
libros  habeant  in  vulgari  translatos,  arctissime  inhibemus)  ;  so  the 
0.  Tarraconense  a.  1234.  In  any  case,  according  to  the  whole  system 
of  the  Church,  the  reading  of  the  scriptures  is  not  regarded  as  neces- 
sary, and  the  people  are  referred  to  the  priests  as  a  nearer  and  surer 
fountain  of  instruction. 

*  The  Council  of  Trent  speaks  on  this  difficult  subject  in  its  4th 
Session,  but  for  reasons  easily  understood  goes  not  into  it  minutely. 
Even  to  have  raised  a  question  here,  must  have  been  to  put  at  stake  a 
number  of  her  most  important  doctrines  and  usages.  Bellarmine  dc 
vcrho  Dei,  4,  2.  divides  traditions  into,  1st  traditiunes  divinae,,  communi- 
cated by  Christ  to  the  apostles,  2nd  iraditioncs  aposlolicae,  proceeding 
from  the  apostles,  though  not  m  then  wntimrs, -dnd  3d  Iradiiiones  ec- . 
clesinsticae,  ancient  Church  usages  and  customs.  The  first  stand  par- 
allel in  value  with  the  gospels,  the  second  with  the  writings  of  the 
apostles,  and  the  third  with  the  written  decrees  and  constitutions  of  the 
Church.  Moehlkr's  view  of  tradition,  on  the  contrary,  is  by  no  means 
strictly  orthodox,  but  ideal,  showing  a  protestant  tinge.  Here,  as  in 
his  celebrated  book  also  on  the  unity  of  the  Church,  the  theology,  of 
ScHLEiERMACHER  was  evidently  felt.  Thus  he  distinguishes  in  his, 
Sf/mbolik  (p.  362  If.  of  the  5'th  ed.   1838.)  between  a  tradition  in  the 


75 

for  example,  ^j[aaL_h§ptism,  the  worship  of  the  saints,  the  doc- 
trine of  purgatory,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  the  forty  days  fast 
before  easier.  Its  compass  is  determined  of  course  by  the 
Church,  that  is  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which  is  taken 
to  be  the  Church  universal,  and  so  the  rightful  bearer  of  this 
trust.  What  she  has  declared  to  be  apostolical  tradition,  through „ 
her  organs,  the  popes  and  councils,  must  be  received  in  this 
character.  She  decides  in  the  case  however  according  to  a  fixed 
rule,  the  criterion  of  catholicity  namely  presented  by  Vincentius 
LiRiNENSis  :  quod  ubiqiie,  quod  semper,  quod  ab  omnibus  credi- 
turn  est.  All  valid  traditions  consequently  must  have  been  uni- 
versally acknowledged  by  the  Christian  Church  from  the  begin- 
ning. 

But  just  here  comes  the  knot  which  the  Church  of  Rome  is- 
not  able  to  unloose,  but  only  to  cut  in  a  violent  way..  The  uni- 
versality in  time  and  space  which  is  called  for  by  the  criterion 
now  mentioned,  cannot  be  shown  in  favor  of  a  single  one  of  all 
her  traditions  as  different  from  the  bible.  This  point  has  been 
largely  handled  by  Chemnitz,  with  great  learning.  Very  many 
dogmas  and  usages  rose  clearly  in  the  Middle  Age,  or  at  least  af- 
ter the  time  of  Augustine  ;  and  in  the  best  cases,  the  alledged 
universality  reduces  itself  to  a  relative  majority  of  voices  merely,, 
which  was  often  very  small,  and  not  unlrequently  besides  the 
result  of  outward  influences  entirely.  In  the  discussion  on  tradi- 
tion itself,  in  the  fourth  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  nothing 
like  absolute  unanimity  was  to  be  found.  The  bishop  of  Chiozza 
maintained  that  the  gospels  contain  all  that  man  needs  for  salva- 
tion ;  and  another  prelate  declared  decidedly,  that  God's  word 
consisted  not  of  two  parts,  that  it  was  a  reproach  to  divine  provi- 
dence to  assume  that  a  portion  of  its  revelation  had  not  been 
committed  to  writing,  and  that  we  must  rather  follow  therefore  the 
example  of  those  fathers,  who  confined  themselves  always  to  the 
bible  alone.     In  the  discussion  on  the  doctrine  of  justification  a 

subjective,  and  a  tradition  in  the  objective  sense.  The  first  is  nothing- 
more  than  "the  Christian  sense  belonging  to  the  Church,  and  handing 
itself  down  by  means  of  Church  training,  the  word  continuously  living 
in  the  hearts  of  the  faithful  ;"  the  same  thing  thus  with  what  Schlei- 
ERMACHER  stylcs  the  Christian  consciousness.  Tradition  in  the  objec- 
tive sense  is  made  to  be  "the  aggregate  faith  of  the  Church  through 
all  ages  as  exhibited  in  external  historical  testimonies."  But  this  is 
to  say  nothing  characteristic  of  it  as  distinguished  from  the  sacred 
scriptures,  which  also  belong  to  the  aggregate  faith  of  the  Chuich  in 
this  form.  It  is  easy  enough,  in  such  fashion,  to  escape  the  difficulties 
of  the  case;  which  begin  precisely  where  it  comes  to  the  question  of 
the  concrete  contents  of  tradition  as  differing  from  the  bible. . 


76 

still  more  considerable  want  of  unity  appeared.  The  archbishop* 
of  Sienna,  the  bishop  della  Cava,  Giulio  Contarini  bishop  of 
Belluno,  and  with  them  five  theologians,  joined  in  declaring  faith 
to  be  the  only  ground  of  juslificalion,  love  and  hope  its  attendants, 
and  works  its  evidence  or  proof;  whilst  the  general  of  the  Au-- 
gustinians,  Seripando,  brought  forward  the  view  of  Gaspar  Con- 
tarini, which  took  a  middle  course  betw-een  the  two  systems. 

But  the  voice  of  history,  with  its  thousand  tongues,  is  over- 
whelmed, not  answered,  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  vviih  the  declara- 
tion that  she  is  absolutely  infallible,  the  unerring  organ  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  to  which  all  private  judgment,  all  historical  inquiry, 
must  yield  implicit  submission.*  To  this  point  in  the  end  the 
whole  controversy  of  right  comes  ;  with  it  the  entire  Roman 
Catholic  system  stand.:,  or  falls.  But  this  highest  principle  pre- 
cisely of  the  infallibility  of  the  papal  hierarchy,  like  the  highest- 
principle  of  most  philosophical  systems,  is  merely  asserted,  never 
proved.  It  forms  the  p'o^o/i/?sez/c/os,  the  grand  falsehood,  on* 
which  the  whole  system  rests  ;  and  at  the  same  time  its  central 
sin,  creature  deification,  making  itself  identical  with  the  universal 
Church,  yea,  with  the  absolute  kingdom  of  God,  out  of  which  all- 
are  heretics  only  and  children  of  perdition. 

Protestantism   has  shaken   this  foundation  from  its  place.     It 
plants  itself  on  the  principle,   that  infallibility  belongs  to  Christ 
and  his  word  alone,  and  to  all  else  so  far  only  as  it  may  be  joined 
to  him  in  living  union..  This  union  however,  m  the  present  world,. 
is    progressive,    and  so  always  incomplete.     In   the  case  of  the 
single  Christian,  this  is  as  clear  as  day.     As  in  ihe  best  works - 
of  the  regenerate  sin  still  continues   to   work  with  more  or  less, 
power,  so  that  they  can  never  become  the  ground  of  justification  ; . 
so  also  error  still  cleaves  to  his  knowledge,  as  long,  as  he  taber- 
nacles in  the   body,  and  on  this  account  the  truth  which  is  unto 

*  The  Council  of  Trent  of  course  takes  this  position  every  where 
for  granted,  and  utters  all  its  decisions  accordingly.     In  the  nature  of' 
the  case,   at  the  same  time,  it  couid  not  be  subje^cted  to  particular  in- 
vestigation  and   proof.     This   would    hav*   been  nothing  less  than  a 
petitio  principii  \  since  to  he  able  to  show  its  divine  authority,  the  S}"- 
nod  must  have  assumed. the  fact  as  already  given.     The  Cat.  Horn.  I. 
10,  18.  ascribes  to  the  Roman  Church,  and  to  this  exclusively,  freedom- 
from  all  error  in^rfet  ac  mnruin  disciplinatradenda  ;  and  so  likewise  Bel- 
LARMiNE  ecd.  milit.  c.  14.     Nostra  sententia  est  ecc/esmw  absolute  non 
posse  erra)'€,  nee  in  rebus  absolute  necessariis,  neoin  aliis,  quae  creden- 
da  vel  facienda  nobis  proponit,  sive  habeantur  expresse  in  scripturis, 
eive  non  :  et  quum  dicimus,  ecclesiam  non  posse  errare,  id  intelligimus  < 
tam  de  universitate  fidelium  quam  de  univereitate  episcoporum. 


m 

bols,  as  true  expressions  of  this  Church  consciousness,  that  is  as 
agreeing  with  the  scriptures  ;  to  which  ihey  refer  still  as  the  un- 
erring fountain  and  norm  of  religious  knowledge.*  Then  again, 
they  formed  in  their  own  bosom  a  peculiar  Reformed  and  Lu- 
theran tradition,  carrying  forward  thus  the  stream  of  Church 
consciousness  in  themselves,  and  giving  it  representation  in  their 
symbolical  books.  This  too  is  in  no  respect  contrary  to  their 
bible  principle.  For  the  protestant  symbols  are  like  wise  yb?'77iaZ 
dogmatic  traditions,  which  contain  nothing  different  from  the 
scriptures,  but  simply  express  the  faith  of  Protestantism  in  the 
scriptures  themselves,  and  its  apprehension  of  their  contents. 
They  are  the  evangelical  answer  to  the  interrogation  of  the  di- 
vine Word  ;f  which  founded  the  Church  at  first,  and  by  which  it 

in  utero,  nisi  pariat,  nisi  nos  alat  suis  uberibus,  deniaue  sub  custodia 
et  gubernatione  sua  ijos  teneat,  donee  exuti  carne  mortali  similes  eri- 
rr.us  angelis.  Neque  enim  patitur  nostra  infirmitasa  schola  nos  dimitti, 
donee  toto  vitae  cursu  discipuli  fuerimus.  Adde  quod  extra  ejus  pre- 
mium nulla  est  speranda  peccatorum  remissio,  nee  ulla  salus,  teste 
lesaja  (37  :  32.)  et  Joele  (2  :  32.).  With  the  greatest  severity  be  then 
reproves  all  those,  who  without  imperious  necessity  of  conscience  sepa- 
rate themselves  from  the  reigning  Church.  This  whole  section  in  fact 
sounds  so  strongly  catholic,  that  Moehler  {Symholik  p.  443  f.)  accur 
ses  Calvin  of  being  in  perfect  contradiction  here  with  himself,  in  leav-. 
ing  the  Catholic  Church.  But  this  reproach  is  fully  answered  by  the 
second  chapter  of  the  same  book,  where  Calvin,  with  that  overwhelm- 
ing moral  earnestness  which  is  peculiar  to  him,  exhibits  the  papacy  as 
a  false  Church,  because  by  its  ordinances  it  directly  contradicted  the 
word  of  God.  He  estimates  thus  the  worth  of  a  Church  by  its  agree- 
ment with  this  unerring  standard,  the  charter  cf  the  covenant,  and  the 
depository  of  all  truth.  Till  the  papists  can  show,  what  has  not  yet 
been  done,  that  their  Church  agrees  with  the  word  of  God,  Calvin 
stands  fully  justified.  For  the  sake  of  his  connection  with  the  true 
Catholic  Church,  he  was  compelled  to  separate  from  a  communion, 
which  in  its  spiritual  insolence  claims  to  be  the  only  true  Church, 
without  being  able  to  bring  anything  more  than  its  own  assertion  in 
proof  of  the  pretension,  Tlie  true  Church,  before  the  Reformation,  ex- 
isted no  doubt  in  the  dominion  of  the  pope  ;  but  the  papacy  must  by 
no  means  be  identified,  for  this  reason,  with  the  true  Church  ;  as  little 
as  Chri>:tianity  in  the  beginning  was  to  be  considered  one  with  Ju- 
daism, because  Christ  and  his  apostles  stood  in  this  system,  visited  the 
temple,  and  took  part  in  its  service. 

*  Cunf.  Gallic,  art.  5.  (p.  330.)  :  Quamobrem  tria  ilia  symbola,  nem- 
pe  Apostolicum,  Nicaenum  et  Athanasianum,  idcircoapprobamus,  quod 
sint  illi  verbo  Dei  scripto  consentanea. 

"I"  Hence  the  known  expression,  symhola  non  imprimiint  credeiida,  sed 
exprimunt  credita.  They  are  not  norma  Jidei,  but  norma  doctrinae,  ac-. 
cording  to  which  the  scriptures  are  to  be  taught. 


must  be  continually  set  free  from  remaining  alloy,  and  carried 
forward  from  one  degree  of  light  and  power  to  another,  till  at  last 
the  word  itself  shall  be  fully  corporealiz<fd  in  it*  life,  and  the 
written  letter  thus  will  be  ao  more  needed  in  the  plenitude  of  the 
spirit. 

With  this  view  firmly  .secured  in  our  minds,  we  escape  the  in- 
superable difficulties,  which  do  in  fact  incumber  the  protestant 
position  as  held  by  many,  particularly  in  our  own  time;  who  in- 
vest the  bible  with  the  most  abstract,  isolated  character,  interpos- 
ing a  lifeless  void  of  eighteen  centuries  between  its  completion 
and  the  present  time  ;  while  yet,  in  spite  of  their  own  theory,  they 
do  themselves  in  fact  hold  it  only  through  the  medium  of  tradi- 
tion, and  see  and  understand  it  too  only  as  minoj'ed  in  the  pre- 
sent consciousness  of  the  particular  Church  to  which  they  belong. 
A  gross  inconsequence  truly,  and  glaring  contradiction,  of  which 
the  Romish  theologians  are  well  pleased  to  take  advantage. 

Before  closing  this  part  of  our  discussion,  and  passing  over  to 
the  consideration  o[ the preseiU  posture  of  Protestantism,  we  have 
still  to  notice  the  princi[)al  Roman  Catholic  objections  to  the  scrip- 
ture principle,  and  then  to  make  clear,  in  a  comprehensive  view, 
its  relation  to  the  material  principle. 

1.  One  of  the  most  frequent  objections  is  :  "The  Church  is 
older  than  the  holy  scriptures,  these  proceed  from  her  ;  this  rela- 
tion between  them  ought  not  them  to  be  reversed,  as  it  is  with 
Protestantism."  True,  the  Church  was  in  being,  before  any  book 
of  the  New  Testament  existed  ;  but  not  before  the  unwritten  word 
of  Christ  and  the  apostles,  which  rather  was  the  foundation  of  the 
Church,  and  in  substance  is  the  same  with  the  written.*  Now 
however  this  originally  oral  communication,  is  fixed  and  secured 
against  corruption  by  the  scriptures.  Why  then  should  we  have 
recourse  besides  to  unwritten  tradition,  as  though  these  were  not 
sufficient]  As  long  as  the  apostles  lived,  the  inspired  bearers  of 
the  divine  word,  such  tradition  was  sufficiently  safe.  In  case  of 
corruption  or  perversion,  (he  apostles  might  apply  the  necessary 
correction.  But  the  case  must  be  wholly  dilil-rent,  after  the 
death  of  these  unerring  witnesses.     If  the  gospel  was  to  be  per- 

*  QuENSTEDT  replies  to  the  objection  in  Hand  :  Quando  Pontifirii 
nrgumentjintnr  in  hune  modum  :  Ecclesia  est  antiquior  scri[)tura,  ergo 
majorem  habct  auctoritatem  etc.,  respondco  :  Distintjuendani  inter  ver- 
bum  Dei  in  scripturis  propositum  et  ipsuvn  scriUendi  actum,  sive  i.nter 
scripturae  substantiam,  quae  est  verbum  Dei,  et  huju3  accidens,  quod  est 
scriptio.     Syst.  Theolog.  1702.  I).  93.. 


petuated  in  its  purity,  it  became'indispensable  that  it  should  be 
committed  to  writing  ;  since  all  merely  oral  tradition,  in  propor- 
tion as  it  becomes  lem^ved  from  its  source,  is  (bund  to  grow  more 
and  more  tutbiJ  ihroui^h  the  accession  of  foreign  matter,  till  in 
the  end  it  is  no  longer  possible,  without  the  intervention  of  a  new 
revelution,  to  make  any  sure  distinction  between  the  truth  and 
the  error.  Against  such  disaster  God  has  provided  under  the 
new  dispensation,  as  before  under  the  old,  by  causing  his  word  to 
be  comiTiitted  to  writing,  and  wonderfully  preserving  it  in  this 
form  from  age  to  age.  Allowing  then,  as  all  reasonable  protes- 
tanls  will  be  ready  to  do,  that  the  written  word  was  not  necessary 
for  the  rise  of  the  Church,  it  must  still  be  considered  indispensa- 
ble for  its  continuance,  as  the  perpetual,  pure  fountain,  and  only 
certain  measure  of  saving  truth.* 

*  We  can  appeal  here  even  to  the  testimony  of  the  most  important 
Roman  Catholic  theologian  of  the  present  age.  Moehler,  in  his 
spirited  work,  Ueber  die  Einheit  der  Kirche,  Tubingen,  1825,  p.  60. 
says  :  '•'fVifhrnd  the  holy  scriptures,  in  which  the  gospel  was  first  em- 
bodied, the  Chrisiian  doctrine  would  not  have  been  preserved  in  its  purity 
' and  simplicity  ;  and,  it  is  certainly  n  great  want  of  righ^  feeling  toioards 
God,  to  speak  of  them  as  accidental,^''  (which  however  is  just  what  many 
Romish  theologians,  in  opposing  protestarits,  have  clone,  and  are  doing 
still,)  ^''because  they  may  seem  to  have  sprung  from  merely  occidental  oc- 
casions. What  a  conception  (ftlie  regency  (f  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Church! 
Without  the  scriptures  moreover,  the  first  link  of  the  Church  would  be 
wanting,  leaving  it  thus  withvint  any  proper  beginning,  and  for  this  rea- 
son unmeaning,  confused  and  chaotic.  Without  a  continuous  tradition, 
on  the  other  hand,  all  higher  sense  for  the  scriptures  would  fail  us  too, 
since  witliout  intermediate  links  we  could  be  conscious  of  no  connec- 
tion. Without  the  scriptures,  we  could  form  no  complete  image  of  the 
Redeemer,  as  trustworlhy  material  would  be  wanting,  and  all  must  be 
TTiade  uncertain  throw^h fables  ;  without  a  continuous  tradition  the  spirit 
and  interest  w^ould  be  wanting  to  fr^m  for  ourselves  any  such  image, 
and  the  material  again  likewise,  for  without  tradition  we  should  have  no 
scripture.  Without  the  scriptures  the  peculiar  form  of  the  discourses  of 
Jesus  would  be  withheld  from  us,  we  should  notknow  hownhe  God-man 
spake,  &c."  What  is  here  said,  with  as  much  bnauty  as  truth, of  tradition, 
impairs  not  at  all  the  force  of  the  passage  in  favor  of  Protestantism.  For 
tradition  is  not  taken  here  in  the  true  lionian  Catholic  sense,  as  we  have 
before  noticed  in  the  case  of  Mokhler,  but  as  the  recrenerated  reason, 
the  Christian  consciousness  of  the  Church  ;  which  stands  not  beside 
the  scriptures  as  an  independent  fountain,  but  is  simply  the  stream  of 
their  contents  reaching  to  us  through  the  life  of  the  Church,  embracing 
always  only  what  is  contained  in  the  scriptures  themselves  ;  the  same 
view  accordingly  that  we  freely  and  cheerfully  admit  on  protestant 
ground  itself.  The  distinguished  champion  of  popery  says  indeed  ex- 
plicitly, that  without  the  scriptures  we  should  be  left  without  trustwor- 
thy matter,  all  being  involved  infables;  and  this,  of  course  applies  with 


92 

2,  "It  is  through  tradition  only  we  have  the  scriptures  them- 
selves, and  are  assured  of  their  authenticity,  integrity,  and  divine 
character.  So  likewise  we  are  referred  to  the  Church  ibr  the  de- 
termination of  the  sacred  canon,  which  fixes  the  limits  of  the 
written  word.  Now  it  is  inconsistent,  when  protestants  accept 
the  canon  thus  handed  down  to  them  by  the  Church,  and  yet  in 
theory  reject  tradition."  With  regard  to  this,  it  has  been  already 
observed  that  the.-je  testimonies  of  the  Church  on  the  genuineness, 
integrity,  and  number  of  the  sacred  writings,  have  no  claim  to  in- 
fallible authority  ;  but  are  primarily  of  mere  historical  character, 
subject  fairly  to  critical  trial  external  and  internal,  and  become 
fully  valid  to  the  individual  Christian  at  last,  on'ly  through  the 
self-evidencing  power  of  the  scriptures  themselves  to  his  spirit  by 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Properly  too,  they  utter  nothing  new%  give  no 
contents,  are  no  voice  beyond  the  scriptures,  but  only  upon  the 
scriptures.  "The  Church,"  as  Nitzsch  says,*  "has  not  made 
the  scriptures  genuine  by  acknowledging  them,  but  the  scriptures 
have  demonstrated  themselves  to  her,  and  now  make  the  Church 
genuine."  And  in  the  same  way,  apart  also  from  these  patristic 
testimonies,  they  still  demonstrate  themselves  as  genuine  and  di- 
vine, to  every  earnest  reader,  by  the  Spirit  ot'  God  speaking 
through  them  to  his  heart. 

3.  "By  rejecting  tradition,  which  imposes  definite  rules  and 
limits  on  the  interpretation  of  scripture,  we  throw  open  the  door 
to  lawless  subjectivity.  This  is  shown  by  the  actual  state  of  the 
protestant  world,  as  rent  into  various  conflicting  parties,  which 
without  exception  appeal  to  the  scriptures  in  support  of  the  most 
opposite  doctrines  and  principles."  Here  indeed  a  disadvanta- 
geous side  of  Protestantism  is  brought  to  view,  which  we  are 
constrained  to  acknowledge  with  deep  sorrow,  as  will  appear  here- 
after. Still  however,  whilst  we  readily  allow  that  the  curse  of* 
sects  is  to  be  ascribed,  in  large  part,  to  the  contempt  of  Church 
authority  and  the  abuses  of  protestant  liberty,  we  must  decidedly 
reject  the  allegation,  that  tradition  alone,  and  that  in  the  Romish 
sense  as  an  infallible  judge  of  scripture,  forms  a  sufficient  remedy 
for  the  cure  of  this  disease.  The  prescription  at  best  leaves  us 
where  we  were  before,  if  it  bring  us  not  into  a  plight  still  worse. 
For  tradition  itself  is  capable  also  of  various  interpretations,  and 

fair  consequence  also  to  tradition  in  the  Romish  sense,  so  far  as  it  is 
made  to  hold  contents  of  its  own,  not  derived  from  the  scriptures. 
Comp.  also  Baur,  Der  Gegensatz  des  Kathulicismus  und  Protestantismusif 
1834.  p.  348  f. 

*  System  der  ckristlichen  Lehre,  4th  ed.  p.  93. 


m 

to  a  greater  extent  indeed  than  the  bible,  in  proportion  as  the 
writings  in  which  it  is  to  be  found  are  of  greater  compass.  It  is 
prodigious  injustice,  to  ascribe  all  clearness  to  man's  word,  and 
all  darkness  to  the  word  of  God.  The  history  of  the  Church  be- 
sides informs  us  plainly,  that  different  sects  have  stayed  them- 
selves on  tradition  as  well  as  upon  the  holy  scriptures.  This  was 
done,  for  instance,  by  the  Gnostics,  and  again  by  the  x\rians  at 
the  council  of  Antioch  ;*  also  by  the  Artemonites,  who  according 
to  EusEBius"!*  affirmed,  that  their  error  with  regard  to  the  person 
of  Christ  had  been  held  by  the  apostles  and  the  whole  Church 
down  to  the  time  of  the  Roman  bishop  Victor,  and  was  first  ex- 
changed for  a  different  view  under  his  successor  Zephyrinus.  It 
is  known  too  that  different  views  still  prevail  in  the  Church  of 
Rome,  without  loss  of  orthodoxy,  on  several  by  no  means  unim- 
portant articles  of  the  Tridentine  system  ;  and  it  is  owing  only  to 
the  outward  force  she  employs  to  restrain  all  tendencies  of  the 
more  free  sort,  as  in  the  case  of  Jansenism  and  Hermesianism, 
that  these  differences  come  not  to  more  open  contradiction  and 
collision.  In  this  way  however,  the  disease  is  not  cured,  but  only 
covered  over  ;  to  break  forth  the  more  dangerously  again,  in  its 
own  time.  Such  tyranny  over  the  conscience  and  against  free 
inquiry,  is  contrary  in  the  view  of  our  Church  to  the  free 
nature  and  spiritual  constitution  of  the  gospel.  As  little  as  the 
present,  so  sadly  divided  condition  of  the  Evangelical  Church  may 
be  considered  her  proper  normal  and  perfect  state,  it  still  forms 
an  advance  as  compared  with  the  posture  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
to  which  the  crisis  is  still  future.  What  vital  energy  must  not 
Protestantism  possess,  to  endure  so  long,  and  renew  its  youth  con- 
tinually, in  spite  of  such  distraction  ! 

In  directing  our  view  now  to  the  relation  of  the  two  principles 
to  each  other  mutually,  it  may  be  observed  that  they  are  insepa- 
rably joined  as  contents  and  form,  will  and  knowledge,  and  strict- 
ly taken  constitute  but  two  sides  of  one  and  the  same  principle, 
which  resolves  itself  into  the  maxim,  Christ  all  in  all.  All  sects 
accordingly,  which  either  deny  justification  by  faith  alone,  as  the 
Socinians,  Unitarians,  and  Swedenborgians,  or  reject  the  written 
word,  as  the  Schwenckfeldians  and  Quakers,  are  to  be  excluded 
from  the  territory  of  orthodox  Protestantism,  however  they  may 
claim  to  belong  to  it  and  seem  to  stand  in  its  connection.  Where- 
ever  either  element  comes  to  be  held  in  a  onesided  way,  a  devia- 
tion has  already  taken  place  from  the  original  character  of  the 
Reformation.     Christ,  or  in  an  immediate  view  his  Spirit,  is  ever 

*  Socrates  Hist.  Ecdes.  II.  10. 
t  Hist.  Ecdes.  V.  28. 

9 


94 

in  the  word  and  with  the  word  ;  never  without  or  1)eyond  the 
word,  written  or  preached  ;  yea,  he  is  himself  the  living,  personal 
word.  The  word  again  can  be  understood  only  by  faith,  in  union 
with  the  spirit  of  Christ  speaking  to  us  through  the  letter.  By  the 
word,  the  objective  Spirit  bettrs  witness  to  the  subjective  s[)irit, 
that  it  is  born  of  God.*  The  material  element  without  the  objec- 
tive basis  of  the  formal,  becotnes  swarming  inwardism,  and  in  the 
end  sheer  subjectivity.  The  formal  element  without  the  material, 
on  the  other  hand,  conducts  to  stiff,  lifeless  and  soulless  external- 
ism,  the  idolatry  of  the  letter  ;  and  comes  besides  to  no  right  un- 
derstanding of  the  scriptures,  to  which  the  key  is  found  only  in 
justifying  faith  as  produced  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  VVe  have  a 
like  result  in  Philosophy,  where  Idealism  and  Realism  come  not 
to  a  living  interpenetration.  The  first  sundered  from  tne  second 
becomes  a  barren,  merely  formal  thought-thinking  ;  the  second 
without  the  first  sinks  into  rough  empiricism  and  materialism. 

In  thus  breaking  through  the  interposed  obstruction  of  hier- 
archical authority,  vindicating  to  Christ  his  exclusive  and  all  suf- 
ficient mediatorial  rights,  bringing  man  back  from  dead  works  to 
God's  grace,  from  vain  traditions  to  God's  word,  and  thus  by 
means  of  both  obtaining  for  him  direct  access  to  his  Savior,  and 
through  him  to  his  heavenly  Father,  Protestantism  at  the  same 
time  gave  no  countenance  to  loose  and  unrestrained  wilfulness  in 
thought  or  practice.  On  the  contrary,  the  freedom  it  has  intro- 
duced is  such  as  has  solid  contents,  not  excluding  but  including 
allegiance  to  law  and  order.  It  has  bound  the  religious  spirit 
indissolvbly  to  God'' s  grace  and  God's  word,  and  by  so  doing  set 
it  free  from  all  human  ordinances  running  counter  to  the  same* 
The  positive  element,  is  accordingly  the  first.  Our  Church  is 
primarily  Evangelical.  Pi  ©testation  is  its  second  character,  and 
has  respect  only  to  that  wh'ch  invades  destructively  the  objective 
ground  of  the  gospel.  Positively  evangelical,  it  becomes  at  the 
same  time  negatively  proteslavnt  towards  all  opposing  error.  In 
short,  its  freedom  is  the  blessed  liberty  of  the  children  of  God, 
which  stands  in  unconditional  obedience  to  the  Lord  and  to  his 
word,  and  is  identical  thus  with  moral  necessity. f 

*  The  relation  is  happily  exhibited  by  Calvin  Insfif.  III.  c.  2.  §  6. 
Principio  admonei.di  suniiis,  perpeluamessefidei  relationem  cum  verbo, 
nee  magis  ab  eo  posse  divclli,  rpmm  radios  a  sole,  undo  oriuntur. — 
Quare  si  ab  hoc  scopo,  qiiem  colliuiare  debet,  vol  minimum  defleetit 
fides,  naturara  saam  non  retinet,  sed  inccrta  est  crediditas  et  vagus 
mentis  error.  Idem  verbum  basis  est,  qua  fulcitur  et  siistinetur,  unde 
si  declinat,  corruit.  Tollc  igitur  verbum,  et  nulla  jam  restabit  fides. — 
Unde  ct  fidem  definit  Paulus  obedientiam,  quae  praestatur,  evangelio 
(Rom.  1  :  5.). 

f  Excellent  instruction  on  this  point  is  to  be  found  in  the  truly  mas- 


95 


PART   SECOND. 

The  Principle  of  Protestantism  in  its  relation  to  the  later  de- 
velopment AND  PRESENT  STATE  OF  THE  PrOTESTANT  ChURCH. 

The  new  religious  views  comprehended  in  Protestantism,  ac- 
complished a  remodihcalion  of  the  entire  world,  in  government, 
science,  art,  and  social  life.  Modern  history  is  an  inexplicable 
riddle,  without  the  Reformation.  VVe  are  not  called  however  to 
quit  the  strictly  theological  sphere.  Rather,  having  now  complet- 
ed the  historico-doctrinal  part  of  our  subject,  we  must  pass  on  to 
consider  the  relation  of  the  Protestant  principle  to  the 

POSTURE  AND    WANTS    OF  THE  ChURCH    IN  OUR  OWN  AGE. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  something  remarkable  always,  that 
the  last  days  of  Luther  and  Mklancthon,  who  had  attained  to 
such  a  full' mt^asure  of  evangelical  liberty  and  joy,  should  have 
been  characterised  nevertheless  by  a  deep  melancholy.  Only  ill 
will  can  attribute  ihis  to  their  personal  character,  and  only  the 
most  superficial  reflection  reckon  it  to  the  discredit  of  their  work.* 


terly  sermon  of  Luther,  on  the  Liberty  of  a  Christian  Man  ;  where  he 
handles  the  seemingly  contradictory  propositions,  "A  Christian  Man 
is  a  free  lord  over  all  things,"  and,  "A  Christian  Man  is  a  bound  ser- 
vant of  all  things,  and  subject  to  every  man  in  Christ." 

*  The  distinguished  critic  and  historian  Thomas  Carlyle,  who  has 
well  apprehended  and  described  the  character  of  Luther,  at  least  in  its 
human  greatness  and  historical  significance,  observes  of  his  melancholy 
very  beautifully  {Heroes  and  Hero  Worship  p.  164.)  :  "The  basis  of  his 
life  was  sadness,  earnestness.  \n  his  latter  days,  after  all  triumphs 
and  victories,  he  expresses  himself  heartily  weary  of  living  ;  he  con- 
siders that  God  alone  can  and  will  regulate  the  course  things  are  taking, 
and  that  perhaps  the  day  of  judgment  is  not  far.  As  tor  him,  he  longs 
for  one  thing  :  that  God  would  release  him  from  his  labor,  and  let  him 
depart  and  he  at  rest.  They  understand  little  of  the  man  who  cite  this 
in  discredit  of  him  !  I  will  call  this  Luther  a  true  great  man  ;  great  in 
intellect,  in  courage,  affection  and  in  egrity  ;  one  of  our  most  loveable 
and  precious  men.  Great,  not  as  a  hewn  obelisk  ;  but  as  an  alpine 
mountain — so  simple,  honest,  spontaneous,  not  setting  up  to  be  great  at 
all  ;  there  for  quite  another  purpose  than  beino;  great  !  Ah,  yes,  unsub- 
duable  granite,  piercing  far  and  wide  into  the  heavens  ;  yet  in  the  clefts 
of  it,  fountains,  green  beautiful  vallies  with  flowers  !  A  right  spiritual 
hero  and  prophet ;  once  more  a  true  son  of  nature  and  fact,  for  whom 
these  centuries,  and  many  that  are  to  come  yet,  will  be  thankful  to 
heaven. 


96 

They  were  sad,  not  on  their  own  account,  but  on  account  of  the 
Church,  which  lay  immeasurably  more  near  lo  their  hearts,  than 
all  personal  prosperity.  And  the  men  were  not  imposed  upon  by 
their  own  imagination  ;  their  sad  forebodings,  in  view  of  the  perils 
outward  and  inward  to  which  Protestantism  stood  exposed,  after 
its  glorious  pentecostal  period,  had  in  fact  a  prophetical  character. 
The  great  rent,  from  which  Christendom  still  continues  to  bleed, 
had  now  taken  place  ;  the  Church  hitherto  one  was  divided  ;  in- 
dividuals and  whole  nations  were  set  loose  from  the  bonds  of 
hierarchical  discipline.  The  Reformers  had  not  sought  the  sepa- 
'ration  ;  it  was  however  unavoidabl        '^^'--^v  must  themselves  set 

their  seal  to  it,  after  the  pope  had  uttered  nia  u. tory  sentence, 

if  they  would  obey  God  and  their  own  conscience  rather  than  men, 
and  honor  Christ's  crown  of  thorns  above  the  triple  crown  of  gold 
with  its  arbitrary  decrees.  It  was  simply  the  objective  course  of 
history  itself,  and  with  this,  one  would  think,  they  might  have  set 
their  hearts  at  rest.  But  history,  since  the  presence  of  sin,  un- 
folds itself  only  through  extremes  in  the  way  of  action  and  reac- 
tion. A  religious  principle,  once  uttered,  becomes  the  property 
of  the  whole  world,  communicates  itself  like  fire  to  all  other  de- 
partments of  life,  rushes  onward  restless  and  onesided  to  its  ex- 
treme consequences  ;  and  then,  by  inherent  dialectic  process, 
strikes  over  into  its  opposite.  Dislodge  a  heavy  rock  from  its  place 
on  the  summit  of  a  mountain,  and  it  rests  not  till  it  finds  the  bot- 
tom of  the  valley  below,  and  there  breaks  into  a  thousand  pieces. 
All  flesh  is  as  grass  ;  only  the  word  of  God  abideth  forever.  This 
was  well  understood  by  the  great  men  of  whom  we  speak.  Al- 
ready indeed  they  had  been  compelled  to  witness  with  their  own 
eyes,  much  fleshly  misunderstanding  of  their  pure  work  ;  false 
consequences  drawn  from  it;  confusion  and  division  by  its  means, 
though  not  by  its  fault.  In  all  this,  they  saw  now  the  slender 
beginnings  of  greater  distraction  to  come,  and  were  made  sorrow- 
ful by  the  prospect.  Time  has  since  verified  their  fears.  What 
they  thus  despondingly  anticipated,  lies  painfully  disclosed  before 
our  eyes. 

Protestantism  has  now  a  history  of  three  hundred  years  in  its 
rear — a  short,  but  most  stirring  and  active  life.  True,  it  has 
built  no  Gothic  domes,  painted  no  Raphaelian  madonnas,  founded 
no  monastic  orders  ;  in  such  spheres,  its  laurels  are  not  found. 
But  it  possesses  a  scholasticism,  less  philosophically  deep  per- 
haps, but  quite  as  acute,  as  that  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  at  the 
same  time  much  more  biblically  sound  and  solid.  It  carries  in 
its  bosom  a  mysticism,  not  less  inward  and  full  of  feeling,  specu- 
lative and  practical,   than   that;  which  preceded  it  in  the  Roman. 


97 

Church.  Its  hymns  and  chorals,  in  Germany  at  least,  may  stand 
comparison  with  the  richest  creations  of  Church  art  in  earlier 
times.  From  the  snows  of  Greenland  to  the  islands  of  the  South 
Sea,  from  the  sundered  walls  of  the  mammoth  Asiatic  State  to  the 
western  shores  of  America,  its  missionaries  are  scattered  among 
the  heathen,  vying  in  devoted  and  untiring  zeal  with  those  of  the 
ancient  Church.  It  calls  a  literature  its  own,  which  is  truly  a 
literature  for  the  world,  and  the  power  of  which  continues  to  be 
felt  with  boundless  influence  upon  the  civilization  of  the  human 
race.  To  it  belongs,  at  all  events  again  in  Germany,  a  theology,. 
to  which,  in  point  of  mobility,  learning,  spirit,  penetration,  free- 
dom from  prejudice,  and  skilful  delineation,  nothing  equal  is  to 
be  found  in  the  earlier  history  of  the  Church.  From  it  also  has 
sprung  the  modern  philosophy,  with  its  succession  of  systems, 
which  in  their  kind  are  something  no  less  bold  and  grand,  than 
the  papacy  itself  and  its  dogmatic  image,  the  metaphysics  of  the 
schools.  It  has  organised  states,  and  given  them  immunities, 
which  our  age  for  no  price  would  commute  again  with  the  servi- 
tude of  the  ancient  hierarchy.  Compare  Prussia  with  Italy, 
England  with  Spain,  the  Free  States  of  North  America  with  Bra- 
zil, and  the  truth  of  this  declaration  will  be  at  once  felt.  To  Ro- 
manism itself,  though  serving  on  the  one  hand  to  fix  it  in  its  own 
principle,  it  imparted  on  the  other  a  new  impulse  ;  calling  into 
life  the  Jesuits,  for  its  defence  ;  purifying  like  a  storm  its  moral 
atmosphere,  so  that  it  could  venture  no  more  to  nominate  such  a 
pope  as  Sixtus  IV,  Alexander  VI  or  Julius  II.  It  stands  indeed 
continually  over  against  its  powerful  adversary  still,  as  a  corrector 
and  waker  from  sleep  ;  and  who  will  not  admit,  that  the  greatest 
modern  defenders  of  popery,  a  MoEHLERy.  a  Goerres,  for  in- 
stance, are  so  formidable  as  they  are,  simply  because  they  have- 
sharpened  their  weapons  on  the  whetstone  of  protestant  science. 
In  short,  without  this  influence  the  vast  communion  of  Rome,  like 
the  Greek  Church  (at  least  in  great  part),  must  have  passed  over 
into  a  state  of  putrefaction,  so  as  to  present  at  best  only  the  spec- 
tacle of  a  praying  corpse.  Traverse  the  lands  in  which  Protes- 
tantism has  fixed  its  seat, "from  the  northern  boundary  of  Sweden 
to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  from  the  southern  declivities  of  the  Him- 
alayah  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  ;  almost  every  where  you 
may  find  theologians  victoriously  contending  against  infidelity 
and  superstition  ;  preachers,  who  like  Paul  are  not  ashamed  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ  crucified,  but  hold  all  the  glory  of  the  world  in 
contempt  for  its  sake  ;  a  strict  moral  order  ;  a  blooming  domestic 
life  ;  an  acquaintance  with  the  bible  ;  a  freedom  and  joy  of  faith 
in  the  inward  man  ;  such  as  you  may  seek  in  vain  in  the  central 
seat  itself  of  the  Church  of  Rome.     There  is  still  sufficient  salt  ini 

9* 


the  system,  with  all  its  diseases,  to  save  it  from  corruption  ;  fuli: 
as  much  certainly  as  belonged  to  the  Catholic  Church  toward  the 
close  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  material  enough  therefore  for  a  new 
Reformation.  High  and  low,  learned  and  unlearned,  die  happily 
within  its  bosom  every  day,  witf)  nothing  but  the  bible  in  their 
hands,  and  faith  in  the  free  unmerited  grace  of  God  in  their 
hearts.  Only  blindness  itself  can  deny,  that  Protestantism  still 
continues  the  great  moving  force  of  the  time,  holding  the  helm  of 
the  world's  political  and  spiritual  history  ;  while  every  other 
form  of  action  comes  to  have  deep  significance,  only  as  standing 
with  it  in  hostile  or  friendly  relation. 

I;  The  Diseases  of  Protestantism. 

We  may  not  however,  and  will  not,  for  this  reason,  close  our 
eyes  to  the  shadow  that  falls  from  this  gigantic  system,  on  the 
other  side.  In  its  inmost  centre  there  is  lodged,  as  in  the  heart 
of  the  Catholic  Church  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  a  danger- 
ous  disease  ;  and,  wo  to  us,  if  we  look  not  round  betimes  for  a 
remedy.  This  must  be  sought,  not  beyond  the  system  itself, 
but  only  again  within  its  own  bosom,  in  that  same  apostolic  circle 
into  which  the  Judas  has  crept,  as  was  the  case  also,  according 
to  our  previous  showing,  with  the  Reformation  itself.  Along 
with  the  bright  aspects  just  noticed,  Protestantism  has  also  its 
Revolutions,  its  Rationalism,  its  Sects;  which  are  all  the  more 
dangerous  as  foes,  inasmuch  as  they  all  claim  to  be  its  most  true 
and  legitimate  offspring. 

With  the  first,  the  spirit  of  political  revolution,  we  have  here 
no  concern.  It  falls  not  within  the  theological  territory.  To  the 
other  two  however  our  attention  must  now  be  directed  ;  then  to 
the  reaction  of  Puseyism  ;  and  finally  to  the  true  remedy  for 
these  diseases,  in  its  most  essential  points. 

1 .  Rationalism  ;  or  onesided  theoretic  subjectivism. 

Rationalism  has  developed  itself  mainly  in  the  Lutheran 
Church,  upon  what  may  be  styled  its  classic  soil.  Germany  is 
the  proper  home,  not  only  of  the  Reformation,  but  of  all  the  deeper 
spiritual  movements  which  have  been  called  forth  by  this,  during 
the  last  three  hundred  years.  Thither  then  we  must  first  direct 
our  view.  To  the  creative  period  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  which 
came  to  a  close  with  the  Form  of  Concord,  succeeded  immediate- 
ly that  of  logical  comprehension  ;  as  in  the  Catholic  Church  the 
patristic,  dogma- producing  time  was  followed  by  the  scholastic. 


99 

This  protestant  school  learning  was  accompanied  indeed,  like  that 
which  preceded  it  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  with  mystical  tendencies 
or  various  sorts  ;  but  still  it  gave  tone  to  the  age.  Its  great  effort 
accordingly  was  to  reduce  to  system  the  theological  acquisitions 
of  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  with  a  demonstration,  in  part 
dialectic  and  in  part  biblical,  extending  to  the  smallest  separate 
particulars.  Our  business  here,  is  not  to  bring  into  view  the 
many  merits  of  this  period,  in  which  such  men  as  John  GerhakDj 
HuTTER,  QuENSTEDT,  Calovius,  rise  before  our  vision,  but  only 
to  show  in  what  respect  it  tended  necessarily  to  call  forth  opposi- 
tion. Shutting  itself  up  from  the  start  within  the  narrow  circle  of 
the  Form  of  Concord,  it  stood  in  a  perfectly  exclusive  relation, 
not  only  towards  the  Reformed  system  of  doctrine,  but  also  to- 
wards, the  diverging  peculiarities  of  the  Melancthonian  school  ; 
and  thus  gradually  degenerated,  like  the  scholastic  iheology  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  into  dry  dogmatism  and  stiffened  orthodox'y,  in, 
which  religion  was  made  to  consist  in  sound  knowledge,  and  its 
practical  nature  thrust  wholly  out  of  sight.  Justification  was 
separated  abstractly  from  holiness  ;  whilst  as  it  regarded  the 
formal  principle,  the  theory  of  inspiration,  contrary  to  the  more 
free  view  of  the  Reformers,  became  so  overstrained,  that  the 
scriptures  were  made  to  assume  a  magical  character,  in  which, 
their  human,  natural  side  was  not  allowed  at  all  to  appear.  All 
this  opened  the  way  for  an  opposite  movement. 

The  reaction  showed  itself  first,  in  the  sphere  of  the  material 
principle,  under  the  form  of  Spenerian  Pietism  ;  which  in  oppo- 
sition to  such  forms  of  outward  intellect  successfully  asserted  the 
vast  importance  of  holiness  and  the  verification  of  faith  in  prac- 
tice. This  mission  it  fulfilled  with  great  earnestness  ;  but  not 
without  a  certain  onesidedness,  particularly  in  its  later  character, 
which  gave  its  orthodox  adversaries,  with  their  superior  science, 
the  advantage  of  right  in  many  points.  Pietism  contributed  much,, 
along  with  its  kindred  spirit  among  the  United,  Brethren,  by 
whom  all  confessional  distinctions  were  undervalued,  to  dissemi- 
nate a  religion  of  sickly  sentiment  and  sighs,  aversion  to  clear 
definite  conceptions  and  to  a  regularly  digested  system  of  theolo- 
gy, and  since  the  confession  of  the  truth  is  the  ground  of  the 
Church,  along  with  all  this  a  want  of  true  Church  feelina. 

This  was  the  first  step,  we  may  say,  towards  Rationalism  ;  the 
nature  of  which  holds  in  this,  that  it  allows  the  idea  of  religion  to 
resolve  itself  into  simple  morality,  or  in  the  end  into  mere  good 
citizenship,  a  result  full  as  onesided  as  the  error  of  identifying  it 
with  theoretic  orthodoxy.     Men  who  could  acknowledge  the  truth, 


100 

belonging  to  Pietism,  whilst  they  still  continued  to  stand  firm  OQ. 
the  solid  ground  of  the  old  Chuich  faith,  such  as  the  great  J.  A. 
Bengel,  who  stands  out  to  view  as  the  religious  ornament  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century  and  of  his  native  VVurtemberg  in  particular, 
were  not  common  ;  and  their  number  grew  always  more  small, 
as  the  century  advanced  towards  its  close.  The  chord  once  struck 
found  every  day  a  clearer  response.  The  undervaluation  of  the 
Church  and  her  symbols,  led  gradually  to  the  undervaluation  of 
the  apostles  and  their  writings,  and  terminated  finally  in  a  denial 
of  the  divinity  of  Christ  himself.  The  transition  of  the  pietestic 
tendency  over  into  the  rationalistic,  is  .strikingly  exhibited  in  the 
case  of  the  celebrated  professor  of  Halle,  Semlee  ;  who  was 
brought  up  in  the  pietestic  school,  and  continued  to  adhere  to  it 
all  his  life  also,  in  the  way  of  what  he  called  "private  piety,"  but 
became  nevertheless,  through  his  special  dishke  to  doctrine,  and 
his  bold  critical  and  historical  investigations,  the  proper  father  of  the 
German  Neology,  and  contributed  beyond  all  others  to  unsettle  the 
recieved  views,  with  regard  to  the  canon  and  the  subject  ofinspira- 
tion.  Other  elements,  in  part  foreign,  the  English  deism,  the  French 
infidelity,  whose  leaders  found  unfortunately  so  powerful  a  protector 
in  Frederick  the  Great,  and  lastly  the  immeasurably  flat  philosophy 
of  Wolff,  making  all  in  heaven  and  on  earth  clear  by  making  all 
shallow,  came  in  to  support  this  fatal  tendency  ;  so  that  towards 
the  close  of  the  revolutionary  century  it  had  almost  universal 
possession  of  the  pulpit  and  professor's  chair,  and  was  fairly  and 
fully  at  home  with  the  visible  rulers  of  the  Church,  the  general 
superintendents  and  counsellors  of  consistory. 

Rationalism  again,  however,  has  its  own  historical  develop- 
ment. In  its  first  stage,  it  appeared  as  a  shallow,  popular  auf- 
klaerung^  by  which  religion  and  the  Church  were  both  cleared  of 
all  deeper  meaning.  Afterwards,  by  means  of  the  philosophy  of 
Kant,  which  had  in  the  mean  time  taken  hold  on  the  consciousness 
of  the  age,  it  assumed  a  more  scientific  form.  The  familiar,  every 
day  style  of  thinking,  was  made  to  give  place  to  intellectual, 
philosophically  cultivated  reflection.  Finally,  it  culminated  in 
the  destructive  speculative  theology,  or  untheology  rather,  which 
within  a  short  period  past  has  burst,  like  a  wild  monster,  with 
terrific  desolation,  from  the  camp  of  the  negative  criticism  and 
Hegelian  logic.  Compared  with  this,  the  old  common  Rationalism 
is  only  a  harmless  child.  The  critical  and  doctrinal  writings  of 
Strauss,  FEUERBAcn,  Bruno  Bauer,  and  their  associates,  may 
be  regarded  as  a  complete  concentration,  full  of  spirit  and  keea 
penetration,  of  all  assaults  heretofore  made  upon  Christianity  ;  so 
that  if  they  should   be  fully  overcome,  apologetic  divinity  might 


101 

hold  a  true  triumph,  and  allow  her  armour  to  hang  long  without 
use.  Rationalism,  it  is  true,  even  in  its  first  stage,  had  exchanged 
the  protestant  doctrine  of  justiHcation  for  pelagianism,  and  put  the 
holy  scriptures  into  the  same  class  with  mere  human  books.      It 
still  left  standing  however  some  fundamental  religious  truth,  as 
the  being  of  God,  his  providence,  the  freedom  and  immortality  of 
man,  and  paid  great  respect  particularly  to  the  morality  of  Chris- 
tianity.    It  is  not  to  be  denied,  that  Kant's  Kritik  of  the  Practical 
Reason  is  animated  with  great  moral  earnestness,  and  may  have 
served  as  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  some  to  Christ.     Being  separa- 
ted however    in   itself  from  the  personal  ideal  of  morality,  Jesus 
Christ,  the  absolute  God-man,  it  was  pervaded  with  the  poison  of 
stoic  self-righteousness,  and  could  make  no  stand  therefore  against 
the  ever  growing  stream  of  the  negative  movement.     The  specu- 
lative Rationalism  has  now  fully  demolished  the  brittle  structure, 
and  thus  realised  in  the  world  of  thought,  what  the  French  Revo- 
lution under  Robespierre  accomplished  in  actual  life.     The  entire 
sacred    history   of   our   Savior   is  resolved  into  a  collection  of 
myths,  unconsciously  produced  by  the  imagination  of  the  infant 
Church,  and  forming  a  tissue  of  inward  and  outward  contradic- 
tions.    One  Church  dogma  after  another  is  given   to  the  winds, 
as  an  imperfect  conception,  self-annihilated  gradually  by  the  on=< 
ward  course  of  scientific  criticism.     Yea,  the  whole  supernatural 
world  is  drawn  over  into  the  present  life,  as  a  mere  product  of  the 
religious  fancy  without  all  objective  reality,  and  the  infinite  God- 
head itself  must   shrink    into   the  finite  spirit  of  man.     This  is 
Pantheism    in  the  most  scientifically  complete  and  perilous  form 
the  world  has  ever  yet  seen,  exalting  the  general  idea  of  humanity 
to  the  throne  of  the  universe,  and  proclaiming  it  the  creator,  pre- 
server,   and  redeemer  of  all  things.     No   farther  progress  seems 
possible  in  this  direction,   unless  it  be  to  reduce  the  theory  to 
practice,  by  building  temples  for  the  worship  of  genius,  as  has 
been  already  proposed,  and  in  some  parts  of  the  new  world  ac- 
tually carried  into  effect  ;  and  by  composing  liturgical  forms,  in 
which   the  human   spirit   may  offer  prayers  and  sing  speculative 
hallelujahs,  in  measured  logico-dialectic  process,  to  the  honor  and 
glory  of  itself. 

It  would  be  an  error  however,  to  suppose  that  the  representa- 
tives of  this  tendency  are  agreed  among  themselves.  They  stand 
to  one  another,  in  part  at  least,  in  the  most  contradictory  relation  ; 
so  that  the  negative  theological  literature  of  Germany,  at  the  pre- 
sent time,  appears  a  tumultuating  chaos  of  systems  and  theories, 
whose  affinity  often  is  such  as  holds  between  fire  and  water.  In 
the  nature  of  the  cage,  when,  the  hunian  understaijding  is  r^ised^ 


102 

to  the  highest  tribunal,  full  scope  is  given  to  the  wilfulness  of  pri^ 
vate  judgment  at  the  same  time. 

This  extreme  climax  of  unbelief  proclaims  itself  to  be,  the  ulti- 
mate necessary  result  of  Protestantism.  To  this  we  answer  how- 
ever in  the  words  of  the  apostle  John,  concerning  the  antic  hristian 
errorists  of  his  ovvn  day  :  They  went  out  from  us,  (in  the  way  of 
outward,  historical  derivation,)  but  they  were  not  of  us.  For  if 
they  had  been  of  us,  they  would  no  doubt  have  continued  with  us 
(1  John2  :  19.).  It  belongs  to  the  very  nature  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, as  we  have  seen,  that  it  makes  the  clearest  distinction  be- 
tween sinful  man  and  a  holy  God,  prostrates  utterly  the  imagina- 
tion that  the  human  will  may  redeem  itself,  or  the  natural  under- 
standing know  the  truth  by  its  own  power,  and  requires  an  uncon- 
ditional submission  on  the  part  of  the  sinner  to  God's  grace  and 
God's  word.  Here,  on  the  contrary,  the  divine  grace  is  taken  to 
be  a  mere  objective  reflex  of  the  power  belonging  to  man  himself^ 
and  the  subjective  reason,  or  understanding  rather,*  is  made  the 
fountain  and  norm  of  knowledge.  If  there  was  ever  a  radical 
confusion  of  things  totally  heterogeneous,  we  have  it  in  the  pre- 
tension just  mentioned.  The  tendency  in  queslion  deserves  to  be 
regarded  only  as  a  christianly  refined  paganism,  whose  very 
character  stands  in  a  deification  of  the  universe,  and  the  worship 
of  the  forces,  either  physical  or  spiritual,  in  which  it  has  its  con- 
stitution. It  might  be  shown,  that  ail  the  heathen  mythologies 
find  their  image  in  this  modern  infidel  cultivation. 

From  this  it  may  now  be  seen  clearly,  that  the  standpoint  of 
our  time  is  wholly  different  from  that  of  the  Reformers.  The 
most  dangerous  enemy  with  which  we  are  threatened  on  theoretic 
ground,  is  not  the  Catholicism  of  Rome,  but  the  foe  within  our 
own  borders  ;  not  the  hierarchic  papacy  of  the  Vatican,  but  the 
worldly  papacy  of  the  subjective  understanding,  and  protestant 
infidelity  ;  not  the  Concilium  Tridentinum,  but  the  theology  of 

*  Rationalism  arrogates  to  itself  the  title  of  rationality  or  reason  as 
specially  its  own.  In  truth  however,  it  moves  not  at  all  in  the  sphere 
of  reason,  but  only  in  that  of  the  abstract  understandinsf,  the  region  of 
mere  finite  thinking,  entangled  in  contradictions  and  external  appear- 
ances, the  standpoint  of  reflection.  Reason,  on  the  contrary  is  the 
power  of  perceiving  the  supernatural,  the  infinite,  the  harmonious 
unity,  the  essence  of  things,  the  primal  idea  of  the  absolute.  It  is  the 
longing  of  the  spirit  after  its  true  country,  its  homes-drawing  towards 
God  and  the  revelation  he  has  made  of  himself  in  Christ  ;  just  as  con- 
science isi  the  point  of  contact  between  the  human  will  and  the  ground 
of  all  will  in  God.  Reason  then,  in  its  inmost  nature,  is  a  receptive 
faculty,  that  must  go  beyond  itself  for  its  contents. 


103 

xinbelief,  as  proclaimed  by  a  Roehr,  a  Wegscheider,  a 
Strauss,  a  Feuerbach,  and  others  of  the  same  stamp*  Must 
not  all  serious  believing  proteslants  feel  themselves  more  closely 
related  in  spirit  to  a  Bellarmine  or  a.  Moehler,  who  agree 
with  them  in  acknowledging  the  trinity,  the  deity  of  Christ,  atone- 
ment by  his  blood,  and  the  divine  inspiration  and  infallibility  of 
the  scriptures,  then  they  are  to  Strauss  and  Bruno  Bauer,  by 
whom  all  these  articles  are  rejected  ?  I  will  by  no  means  deny 
indeed,  that  a  certain  affinity  also  may  be  traced,  in  another  view, 
between  protestant  Rationalism  and  the  Catholicism  of  Rome  ;  in 
the  fact  that  the  tradition  principle  of  the  one  corresponds  with 
the  reason  principle  of  the  other,  while  both  rest  upon  a  pelagian 
basis  in  which  all  right  apprehension  of  the  deep  corruption  of  sin 
is  wanting.f  Even  the  pantheistic  character  of  the  latest  Ratio- 
nalism is  not  without  its  analogies,  in  the  absolute  infallibility  and 
supremacy  in  Church  and  State  claimed  by  the  papacy,  and  in 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  according  to  which  the   priest 

I  This  is  allowed  by  the  more  discerning  and  honorable  Roman 
theologians.  Thus  the  powerful  Moehler,  in  the  Preface  to  the  first 
edition  of  his  Symbolik^  from  which  all  the  recent  apologists  of  poperv, 
who  are  of  any  account,  draw  their  material  (p.  XL)  :  '•'The  catholic  has 
this  advantage  moreover^  that  his  system  includes,  as  well  what  the  rational- 
ists honor  onesidedly  or  exclusively  in  Christianity,  as  what  is  made  prom- 
inent in  the  same  Christianity  just  as  onesidedly  or  exclusively  by 
the  orthodox  protestantism.  These  two  extremes  are  in  fact,  in  his  faith, 
balanced  and  fully  reconciled.  It  holds  as  much  affinity  with  the  one  as 
with  the  other  ,•  and  the  catholic  accordingly  can  comprehend  both, 
since  his  system  is  the  unity  of  both.  The  naturalistic  protestants  are  in- 
debted to  Luther  directly  only  for  this,  that  he  has  procured  for  them 
the  freedom  of  daring  to  profess  what  is  directly  opposite  to  him  and  to 
the  religious  communion  which  he  established  ;  and  the  orthodox  pro- 
testants are  bound  with  them  by  nothing,  but  the  oppressive  feeling  that 
Luther  has  founded  a  Church,  whose  conception  constrains  them  to  tol- 
erate patiently  such  opp;sers  in  their  midst,  as  a  case  admitting  no 
help.  The  catholic  on  the  contrary  has  an  inward  aftinity  on  the 
ground  of  his  faith  with  both,  and  thus  stands  higher  than  both  and 
overlooks  both.  He  has  what  belongs  to  both,  only  without  their  one- 
sided defects."  Compare  the  description  which  Melancthon  gives  of 
the  rationalistic  and  pelagianistic  theology  of  his  time  in  the  Jipol  Con, 
and  his  Loc.  Theol.  We  may  refer  also  to  the  fact,  that  the  more  free 
investigations  which  gradually  led  to  Rationalism,  had  their  origin  in 
part  in  the  Catholic  Ciiurch,  as  we  may  see  in  the  case  of  Petavius  in 
dogmatic  history,  and  Rich.  Simon  in  the  criticism  and  history  of  the 
bible.  The  Jesuits  first  proclaimed  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people,  which  produced  the  French  Revolution,  and  by  their  casuis- 
try opened  the  way  for  the  formal  overthrow  of  all  morality,  with 
which  all  religious  faith  also  must  necessarily  fall  at  the  same  time. 


104 

by  his  consecrating  act  produces  the  body  of  the  Lord,  the  crea- 
ture the  Creator,  and  sensible  elements  are  taken  to  be  the  imme- 
diate contents  of  the  Savior's  flesh  and  blood.  But  a  great  dif- 
ference holds  notwithstanding  between  the  two  systems,  of  which 
we  must  not  lose  sight,  if  we  would  be  equal  to  the  questions  of 
the  time.  For  Romanism,  in  the  first  place,  is  in  this  respect  at 
most  only  AaZ/*  pelagian  and  /taZ/"  rationalistic,  that  it  makes  the 
grace  of  God  and  the  sacred  scriptures  co-ordinate  with  works 
and  tradition,  and  equally  necessary  as  the  ground  and  fountain 
of  salvation  ;  whilst  Rationalism,  in  true  stoic  style,  dreams  of 
beino-  able  to  do  all  by  its  own  strength,  and  to  know  all  by  rea- 
son simply,  separated  from  its  proper  divine  contents  and  contra- 
dicting thus  its  own  design  ;  on  v/hich  account  the  idea  of  a  su- 
pernatural revelation  is  rejected,  and  Christ  himself  is  degraded  to 
a  natural  hero  of  virtue,  a  second  Socrates,  a  mere  man  accord- 
ingly however  ideally  apprehended.  A  farther  difference  con- 
sists  in  this,  that  Romanism  in  making  works  necessary  to  justi- 
fication and  salvation  looks  to  the  deeds  of  the  ivhole  Church,  and 
by  tradition,  as  a  fountain  of  knowledge  and  rule  of  faith  supple- 
mentary to  the  bible,  intends  properly  the  reason  o^all  Christian 
history,  showing  itself  thus  in  the  character  o^  objective,  churchly 
semipelagianism  and  semirationalism  ;  whilst  protestant  Ratio- 
nalism holds  the  isolated  will  and  reason  of  the  individual  suf- 
ficient for  the  purposes  of  salvation,  and  in  this  way  is  altogether 
subjective  and  unchurchly  in  its  nature.  This  then,  as  already 
said,  stands  in  vastly  more  direct  opposition  to  the  essence  of 
Christianity  and  orthodox  protestantism,  than  the  enemy  which 
the  Reformers  were  called  to  combat.  Luther  and  Calvin,  if 
they  should  make  their  appearance  now,  would  act  very  different- 
ly, m  the  altered  state  of  things,  from  what  they  did  three  hund- 
red years  ago.  Their  main  zeal  would  be  directed  no  doubt 
against  such  purely  negative  pseudo-protestantism,  as  something 
altogether  worse  than  popery  itself. 

We  need  to  bear  this  in  mind,  in  our  activity  for  religion  and 
the  Church  at  the  present  time ;  that  we  may  not  lose  sight  of 
our  true  character  and  calling  as  protestants,  in  view  of  the  false 
pretensions  with  which  we  are  surrounded,  on  the  part  of  the  un- 
believing and  ungodly,  who  profess  to  stand  upon  the  same  ground 
and  to  glory  in  the  same  name  ;  and  who  show  themselves  loud- 
est possibly  in  their  cry  against  popery  and  Jesuitism,  only  to 
cover  their  hostility  to  all  faith  and  righteousness.  Such  have  a 
nominal  title  only,  but  none  that  is  historical,  to  appear, in  the 
protestant  character.  That  caution  is  needed  here  in  a  high  de- 
gree, in  our  present  circumstances,  is  not  to  be  doubted.     By 


103 

making  common  cause  with  such  destructive  protestants  in  their 
opposition  to  Catholicism,  whether  the  immediate  object  be  politi- 
cal or  religious,  we  must  render  the  most  efficient  support  and  aid 
to  this  interest  itself ;  which  has  already  indeed,  with  serpent 
wisdom,  contrived  to  draw  immense  advantage  from  such  anti- 
protestant  connections  between  Christ  and  Belial.  The  attack 
intended  to  overwhelm  the  enemy,  recoils  in  this  case  necessarily, 
in  the  way  of  self-annihilation,  upon  its  source.  Rather  let  us 
never  forget  the  much  that  we  hold  in  common  with  the  Roman 
Church,  the  bond  of  union  by  which  she  is  joined  with  us  in  op- 
position to  absolute  unbelief ;  whose  wild  ravages  are  displayed 
also  in  her  own  bosom,  particularly  in  France.  Let  us  first  with 
united  strength  expel  the  devil  from  our  own  temple,  into  which  he 
has  stolen  under  the  passport  of  our  excessive  toleration,  before  we 
proceed  to  exorcise  and  cleanse  the  dome  of  St.  Peter.  At  least/ 
let  this  be  our  main  business. 

It  may  be  said  however  perhaps,  that  Rationalism,  at  least  in  the 
philosophical  form  now  described,  has  for  our  own  country  no 
danger.  But  it  should  be  remembered,  that  the  evil  does  not  hold 
simply  in  the  form.  The  main  thing  is  the  principle  from  which 
it  grows  ;  the  general  standpoint  of  a  cold,  abstract  intellection, 
to  which  all  that  is  mystical  or  supernatural  in  Christianity  is 
found  displeasing.  In  this  view,  we  may  discover  affinities  with 
the  German  Rationalism,  not  only  in  the  Unitarian  and  Universa- 
list  heresies  of  this  country,  but  in  much  also  that  passes  for  ortho- 
doxy. That  unbelief  has  not  yet  acquired  here  the  same  giant 
force,  is  not  owing  so  much  to  the  greater  prevalence  of  personal 
piety,  or  to  the  moral  earnestness  of  the  English  character,  as 
to  the  onesided  practical  tendency  and  want  of  scientific  spirit 
generally  predominant.  Where  a  man  does  not  think,  it  requires 
no  great  skill  to  be  orthodox.  But  the  orthodoxy  that  includes 
no  thought,  is  not  worth  a  farthing.  In  countries  where  scien- 
tific feeling  has  prevailed,  though  with  less  force,  as  Holland  and 
France,  results  have  appeared  quite  analogous  with  the  course  of 
things  in  Germany.  In  Holland  particularly  the  old  established 
orthodoxy,  having  degenerated  in  great  part  into  dry  and  lifeless 
forms,  found  itself  assailed  by  Arminianism,  which  itself  again 
ra  n  out  finally  into  formal  Pelagianism  and  Rationalism.  In  the 
ca  se  before  us,  it  may  be  expected  that  the  disposition  to  explore 
a  given  principle,  and  carry  it  out  to  its  proper  consequences,  will 
c  ontinually  gain  ground  ;  and  with  this  change,  if  no  scientific 
c  ounterpoise  be  provided  in  season.  Rationalism  must  assume 
a  mong  us  a  more  dangerous  form.  Why  should  it  not  find  its 
way  into  England  and  America,  even  as   the  Deism  of  the  first 

10 


106 

country,  from  which  it  is  descended,  wandered  formerly  over  into 
Germany,  to  complete  there  its  university  training  ?  Time  and 
space  are  continually  becoming  more  compressed  ;  the  intercourse 
of  the  nations  more  active  and  free.  Emigration  from  the  old 
world  is  on  the  increase.  Acquaintance  with  German  literature 
is  extendmg  daily  ;  and  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  show,  that 
many  respectable  divines  of  this  country,  who  employ  themselves 
with  it  only  under  its  abstract  intellectual  form,  have  without 
their  own  knowledge  or  will  admitted  the  rationalistic  principle  ; 
which  needs  only  to  be  cultivated,  as  a  germ  in  the  earth,  by 
those  who  may  come  after  them  without  their  piety,  to  grow  up- 
\vards  in  a  short  time  into  a  mighty  tree.  Shall  I  say,  that  even 
in  the  liturgies  and  hymn  books  of  the  German  American  Chur- 
ches rationalistic  elements  are  by  no  means  rare,  without  being 
perceived  by  those  who  use  them  ?  In  many  cases,  clergymen 
who  were  educated  at  the  German  universities  in  the  palmy  day 
of  Rationalism,  have  been  here  improved  indeed  in  their  hearts 
under  the  salutary  influence  of  practical  piety,  but  have  at  the 
same  time  retained  the  poison,  for  which  no  scientific  antidote 
was  at  hand,  in  their  heads,  and  communicated  it  also  involun- 
tarily to  others.  I  will  simply  notice  the  fact  besides,  as  of  a 
kind  to  justify  anxiety,  that  so  many  of  the  German  periodicals  of 
the  country,  particularly  in  the  West,  are  lending  themselves,  as 
organs  more  or  less  expert,  to  the  service  of  infidelity,  with  the 
worst  influence  on  the  more  common  class  especially  of  our  emi- 
grant population.  True,  these  sheets,  so  far  as  they  are  known 
to  me,  are  mostly  both  in  matter  and  style  beyond  description 
miserable ;  such  as  dare  not  show  themselves  in  Germany  at  all, 
unless  in  the  lowest  ale-houses.  The  great  body  of  their  readers 
however,  of  course,  are  not  aware,  that  ail  this  style  of  pretended 
light  and  liberality  has  been  fairly  exterminated  by  German 
science  in  its  most  recent  form,  or  we  may  say  even  by  the  Ro- 
mantic school  itself;  and  then,  practically,  it  comes  to  much  the 
same,  whether  infidelity  goes  about  in  the  antiquated  coat  and  cue 
style  of  a  Bahrdt  and  Edelmann,  or  in  the  modern  philosophi- 
cal cloak  of  a  Strauss  or  FEUERBAcir.  We  have  good  reason 
therefore  to  stand  upon  our  guard  in  this  quarter  also,  and  to  pre- 
pare ourselves  before  hand  for  the  crisis  that  may  come** 

*  As  many  of  my  readers  probably  never  see  the  publications  re- 
ferred to,  while  at  the  same  time  it  is  important  that  they  should  know 
something  of  the  infernal  spirit,  which  is  at  work  to  undermine  the 
faith  of  the  German  population  in  America,  I  will  submit  here  to.the  by 
no  means  pleasant  task  of  furnishing  a  sample  of  its  character  ;  selec- 
ting for  the  purpose  a  few  striking  passages  only  from  the  collection  of 


107 

2.  Sectarism  ;  or  onesided  practical  subjectivism. 

We  turn  now  to  the  other  grand  disease  which  has  fastened 
itself  upon  the  heart  of  Protestantism,  and  which  niust  be  consid- 
ered only  the  more  dangerous,  because  it  appears  ordinarily  in  the 
imposing  garb  of  piety,  Satan  transformed  into  an  angel  of  lights 
This  is  the  sect  system,  which  reigns  especially  in  our  own  land, 
favored  by  its  free  institutions  and  the  separation  of  the  Church 
from  the  State,  and  is  entitled  accordingly  to  our  particular  atten- 
tion. Whilst  Rationalism  has  been  nurtured  mainly  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Lutheran  Church,  the  poisonous  plant  of  sectarianism  has 
flourished  most  on  Reformed  ground,  and  with  the  practical 
nations,  England,  and  her  now  full  grown,  emancipated  daughter 
America. 


various  papers  I  have  received,  on  account  of  attacks  they  have  con- 
tained against  me  for  my  ordination  sermon,  as  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
face. I  juight  bring  forward  quite  a  body  of  political  sheets,  published 
only  by  immigrant  Germans  ;  but  it  may  be  better  to  limit  myself  to 
two  of  religious,  or  much  better  anti-religious  pretension,  which  appear- 
in  wholly  opposite  sections  of  the  union. 

The  "LiCHTFREUND,"  published  by  C.  Muehl  and  Strehly  in  Her- 
mann, Missouri,  contains  in  No.  6.   of  its  5th  year,  along  with  other 
products  of  the  most  superficial,  spiritless  and  jejune  form  of  rational- 
ism, an  essay  on  baptism  ;  in  which  it  is  represented  as  an  old  usage  of 
pagan  and  Jewish  origin,  which  "Rabbi  Jesus"  was  pleased  to  retain 
in  his  system,  but  that  has  now  become  wholly  unmeaning,  or  rather 
"irrational"   and   "grossly  superstitious."  —  "Of  a  trine  immersion  or 
sprinkling  with  water,"  we  are  told,  "nothing  was-  known  in  the  be- 
ginning ;  but  this  was  introduced  only  after  the  introduction,  at  a  later 
period,  of  the  nonsensical  doctrine  o/"  one  God  consisting  of  three  persons  ; 
of  which,   as  we  have  shown  on  a  different  occasion,  no  trace  is  to  be 
found  in  connection  with  early  Christianity."  —  "Have  children  sins 
then,"  sneeringly  inquires  this  apostle  of  infidelity,  this  jack  o'lantern 
philosopher,  "that  call  for  forgiveness  1  On  the  topic  of  original  sin,  as 
discussed    by    us    in    our    preceding    year,    we    have    handled   this 
point  at  large    and    exposed    the  ridiculousness    of   the    Church    doc- 
irine.^^  —  "  It  is   said    of  baptism  farther"   (the  reference  is  to  Lu- 
ther's Catechism,)  "that  it  redeems  us  from  death  and  the  Devil. 
But  this  is  still  more  false  ;  since  baptized  and  unbaptized  alike  die  ; 
and   as   for  the   Devil,  it  is   well  understood  that  this  is  an  invention 
simply  of  diseased  imagination,  that  carries  us  hack  to  the  times  of  the  most 
gross  superstition  and  rudeness.     The   devil  who  plays  spectre  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  Church,  is  lon^  since  killed  dead,  and  no  longer  creates 
fear  ;  though  it  cannot  be  denied  that  there  is  still  devil  enough  in  the 
world,  and  particularly  in  America."     This  last  remark  has  certainly 
much  truth,  of  which  the  writer  himself  maybe  taken  as  good  practical 
proof.— In  the  same  number  we  read:  "This  bugbear"  (of  the  ortho- 
dox Lutheran  and  Reformed  Church)  "is  the  old  theology  which  has 


108 

This  difference  has  its  ground  in  the  national  character  of  the 
Germans  and  the  English,  who  stand  in  a  relation  lo  each  other 
similar  to  that  of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans.  For  the  better 
understanding  then  of  this  part  of  our  subject,  a  short  ethnogra- 
phic digression  may  not  be  out  of  place. 


long  since  outlived  itself.  For  who  in  our  tirae  can  still  believe  in 
three  Gods,  a  propitiation  of  God  by  blood,  a  descent  into  hell,  and 
other  devil's  play,  as  expounded  here  to  a  hair  in  the  largest  style. — 
Let  no  one  say  however  that  people  do  not  play  with  puppets  when 
they  grow  large  and  old.  The  history  of  religion,  ancient  and  modern, 
teaches  us  that  men  continue  to  be  children,  however  old  they  may  be." 
The  religious  history  of  Hermann  in  Missouri  appears  however  to  form 
a  special  exception;  and  the  most  learned  Messrs.  Muehl,  Strehly,  and 
company,  are  to  be  regarded,  we  presume,,  as  the  only  truly  rational 
men  the  world  has  yet  seen.  What  a  pity  no  one  should  think  of 
making  them  professors  of  theology  and  philosophy  !  It  is  enough  to 
drive  one  mad,  such  a  perverse  world,  with  its  childish  religious  histo- 
ry.— In  No.  10  of  the  same  year  a  characteristic  article  is  found  abusing 
the  Pennsylvania  synods,  w^hich  however  is  too  long  to  be  presented 
here  ;  also  a  report  on  the  rationalist  associations  in  Hermann  and 
Augusta,  exhibiting  in  the  case  of  the  first,  among  others,  the  following 
spirited  resolution,  "  That  we  hold  all  and  every  title,  assumed  by  the 
clerical  tribe,  such  as  Reverend,  Ehrwuerdig,  Hochwuerdig,  &c.  for  a 
ridiculous,  aristocratic  pretension,  repugnant  to  free,  republican  feeling, 
which  every  free  man  should  reject  with  scorn."  That  these  honest 
heroes  of  liberty  should  abolish  such  titles  among  themselves,  must  be 
approved  as  altogether  rational  and  natural ;  though  we  should  think  it 
hardly  necessary  ;  for  none  surely  who  care  for  decency  or  truth  are 
likely  to  burden  them  with  any  titles  of  the  sort. 

The  "  Lichtfreund"  however  sheds  buttlie  pale  glimmer  of  a  glow- 
worm, as  compared  with  the  full  blazing  brightness  of  another  periodi- 
cal, which  makes  its  appearance  at  New  York,  edited  by  Samuel  Lud- 
vigh,  under  the  blinding  title  ^'Die  Fackel ;"  with  the  motto,  "  Out  of 
the  ruins  of  Judaism  and  Christianity,  nationalism  will  raise  its  head ; 
out  of  the  rubbish  nf  temples  and  churches  will  rise  halls  of  science.''^  Here 
we  read,  in  No.  4  of  the  2nd  year,  (14.  Dec.  1844.)  among  other  things, 
such  blasphemies  as  we  find  it  almost  too  much  to  copy  :  "Dass  nach 
der  Lehre  des  Herrn  V.  die  Asteroiden  Bruechstuecke  eines  grossen 
Planeten  seien,  ist  in  meinen  Augen  ebenso  richtig,  als  der  heilige 
Geist  eines  Gottessohn  machen  kcenne.  Wenn  Planeten  Junge  machen 
koennen,  so  bleibe  man  doch  ja  fein  im  Glauben  des  alten  Gottes,  und 
lasse  ihn  durch  seinen  heiligen  Geist  hier  auf  Erden  noch  andere  gcett- 
liche  Jungfern-Kinder  erzeugen.  Wie  aber  seine  keuschen  Marien  in 
jenen  Planeten  aussehen  muessen,  das  begreift  raein  Hirnkasten 
nicht  !"  The  same  writer  presents  his  confession  of  faith,  or  no  faith 
rather,  which  is  pronounced  by  Herr  Ludvigh,  ''the  quintessence  of  the 
highest  human  spirit."  It  is  to  be  found  with  him,  inscribed  on  glass, 
and  all  "whose  means  allow  them  to  honor  such  a  pearl"  can  be  fur-. 


109 


The  German,  when  true  to  his  better  nature,  is  distinguished 
by  inwardness,  heartiness,  and  a  tendency  to  contemplation  and 
deep  thought.  His  favorite  home  is  the  ideal  region  of  trulh  and 
beauty.  He  possesses  at  the  same  time  inexhaustible  energy  and 
endurance.     He  can  devote  his  whole  life  to  the  development  of  a 


nished  with  it  there  for  five  dollars.  It  is  of  such  sort,  as  to  throw 
Feuerbach  himself  into  the  shade,  whose  ^'■Wesendes  Christenihums''' 
is  diligently  turned  to  account  by  the  ''FackeV  "I  believe"  (thus 
speaks  this  "very  distinguished  scholar"  of  Boston)  "in  an  inexplica- 
ble, exaltecf*  eternal  existence,  whose  name  no  tongue  has  ever  yet 
uttered,  which  was,  is,  and  shall  be,  past,  present  and  future,  in  all 
three  eternally  without  change  ;  which  was,  is,  and  shall  be,  one  and 
the  same  in  endless  union  with  itself  and  the  majestical  whole  ;  whose 
power  comprehends  itself  and  all,  from  eternity — that  I  also  have 
sprung  from  its  bosom,  and  as  a  shoot  of  its  eternal  endure  forever — 
that  my  eternal  deposited  in  my  mother  as  seed,  impregnated  into  a 
germ  and  brought  into  the  world,  formed  my  present — that  I  have  here 
heaven  and  hell,  joy  and  sorrow  alike — that  when  my  present  shall  here 
dissolve,  its  elements  will  be  reduced  again  to  the  mass  out  of  which  I 
was  taken  by  my  birth — that  no  miracle  can  occur  in  the  course  of  the 
whole — that  man  and  spirit  are  but  spokes  in  the  eternal  wheel,  no  one  of 
more  account  than  another  to  its  movement-that  no  dead  shall  or  can  come 
ever  again — that  the  judgment  of  the  living  must  have  place  here  as  the 
consequence  of  their  actions,  and  that  for  the  dead  none  is  needed — that 
the  most  glorious  temple  is  nature  under  the  vault  of  heaven,  and  that 
a  God  among  the  stars,  crowned  with  suns,  must  blind  us  to  the  pomp 
and  splendor  of  churches,  and  is  too  high  for  human  worship — that 
what  the  priests  teach  is  only  falsehood  and  delusion,  and  the  hope  of 
a  life  to  come  a  mere  contrivance  for  gain — that  the  consciousness  of 
praiseworthy  actions  is  a  true  paradise  and  a  state  of  divine  peace — that 
an  affectionate  faithful  wife,  and  loving  children,  are  the  true  heavenly 
angels,  and  in  the  opposite  case  also  they  are  the  hateful  devih  —  that 
man  needs  a  wise  teacher,  for  his  own  welfare  and  that  of  others — that 
I  must  respect  myself,  before  I  can  deserve  to  be  respected  by  others — 
that  I  must  do  right,  before  I  exact  right — that  the  noble  man  is  a  god 
of  the  earth,  but  a  rough,  unprincipled  one  the  most  hateful  of  all  venom- 
ous monsters  —  that  when  I  have  lived  as  a  man,  and  loved  my  fel- 
low men,  I  can  peacefully  resign  my  ashes  to  corruption  in  the  urn  of 
oblivion,  and  finally  that  something  from  my  eternal  thus  laid  dovi^n 
shall  be  my  resurrection."  What  this  residuum  shall  consist  in,  we 
are  informed  by  the  great  dogmatist  himself.  Moscowy  leather  for 
boot  soles  !  And  this  nauseous  filth  of  a  demented  brain  is  offered  for 
five  dollars  !  Utilitarianism,  in  such  a  case,  may  well  be  indulged  with 
its  Cui  bono  ?  The  Bostonian  philosopher  seems  himself  to  have  but 
small  hope  of  replenishing  his  hungry  purse,  from  the  profits  of  his 
system.  He  confesses  to  his  friend  Ludvigh  :  "A  real  dog's  life  among 
men,  who  are  like  asses  and  tigers  !  1  have  had  much,  and  still  have- 
much  to  bear  ;  my  old  skin  is  tanned  to  moscowy  leather.  Whoever 
shall  work  it  into  boot  soles  hereafter,  he  will  have  soles  that  may  be- 
expected  to  last.'* 

10* 


philosophical  thought  or  some  learned  investigation,  and  feel^ 
himself  happy  while  so  doing  under  the  most  unfavorable  circum- 
stances, even  sitting  on  a  shoemaker's  bench,  like  Jacob  Boehm, 
or  suffering  hunger  with  Keppler.  He  reckons  among  his  coun- 
trymen, the  greatest  philosophers  and  artists.  An  idealist  by 
profession,  he  has  but  little  tact  for  practical  life.  Readily  and 
easily  he  adapts  himself  to  all  outward  relations,  foreign  countries 
and  new  tongues,  not  setting  himself  to  remould  them  to  his  own 
taste,  if  only  he  may  be  left  free  to  follow  his  inward  theoretic 
bent.  He  seeks  his  highest  crown  in  the  Gemiiethlichkeit,  that  forms 
especially  the  ornament  of  the  German  woman,  and  in  science, 
the  pride  and  joy  of  the  man.  Hence  accordmgly  almost  all 
movements  in  the  German  Church  have  turned  upon  doctrine. 
She  produced  all  the  leading  ideas  of  the  Reformation,  but  left  to 
other  nations  the  business  of  outward  organizatioa.  She  presents 
at  this  time  in  particular  a  mixed  mass  of  systems  and  schools,  a 
pattern  chart  of  all  possible  views  and  tendencies.  But  they  all 
continue  notwithstanding  in  one  Church  connection,  only  in  rare 
instances  run  into  separation,  schism,  sectdom.  In  Germany^ 
one  may  often  meet  with  disputations  among  the  younger  class, 
where  different  persons  contend,  amid  clouds  of  tobacco  smoke,, 
with  the  greatest  keenness  and  most  thorough  learning,  bringing 
out  the  inmost  principles  of  their  subject,  making  them  stand 
forth  like  day  and  night,  and  not  resting  till  they  are  pushed  to 
their  most  extreme  consequences.  But  at  last,  their  strength  ex- 
hausted— they  join  in  the  friendly  glass  and  song,  and  exchange 
a  general  kiss,  as  though  nothing  had  occured. — When  however 
it  does  come  to  separation,  a  case  exemplified  too  often  among 
Germans  in  this  country,  we  find  this  usually  in  an  excentric 
style.  For  the  German  cannot  well  observe  moderation.  He 
has  a  decided  tendency  to  extremes,  both  i-n  politics  and  religion. 
As  he  can  rise  very  high,  so  he  can  fall  very  low. 

Quite  different  is  the  Englishman,,  and  the  American  resting  on 
the  same  basis.  True,  he  shares  with  his  kindred  Germanic  race 
the  same  ethical  force,  which  no  storms  can  overcome..  But 
since  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror,  a  strong  Romanic  ele- 
ment has  been  found  associated  wiih  his  nature.  The  energy  of 
his  will  accordingly  takes  a  different  direction,  one  which  is  out- 
ward namely,  into  practical  life.  A  born  realist,  he  possesses  the 
greatest  talent  for  organization  ;  shrinks  from  no  difficulty,  where 
the  call  is  for  order  and  form  ;  his  character  is  marked  and 
strong.  For  philosophy  and  art  in  their  higher  forms  he  cares 
but  little  ;  single  puaisworthy  examples  excepted,  as  among  later 
writers  particularly  Coleridge  and  Cajrlyle..    Such  studies  are 


Ill 

•.  not  sufficiently  practical,  useful,  tangible.  He  laughs  at 
speculations  of  the  modern  German  philosophers,  as  unfruit- 
lul,  baseless,  fantastic  visions,  and  still  continues  to  cherish  a  truly- 
superstitious  veneration  for  the  empiricism  of  Locke.  The  Ger- 
man Gemueihlichkeit,  with  its  expression  of  full,  warm,  heartfelt 
tenderness,  he  regards  with  distrust  as  effeminate  weakness,  or 
sickly  sentimentality.  So  far  is  he  from  making  himself  at  home, 
with  passive  self-renunciation,  in  foreign  relations,  he  seeks 
rather  every  where  to  bend  and  cut  them  to  his  own  nature.  Go 
where  he  may,  he  remains  always  an  Englishman.  Even  when 
he  travels  into  other  lands,  he  expects  more  accommodation  to 
his  national  peculiarities  on  the  part  of  the  people,  than  he  is  pre- 
pared to  yield  to  theirs.  So  in  this  country,  his  will,  language, 
manners  and  customs,  are  made  the  measure  to  which  Span- 
iards, Swedes,  Hollanders  and  French  must  adjust  themselves  as 
they  best  can  ;  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  German  nationali- 
ty also,  as  it  now  holds  among  us  under  a  distinct  form,  both  in. 
language  and  life,  may  gradually  be  swallowed  up  at  last  in  the 
same  Anglican  ocean.  A  result  however  that  must  be  considered 
calamitous,  and  which  all  Germans  should  endeavour  with  all 
their  might  to  avert.  In  conformity  with  this  character,  the  con- 
troversies belonging  to  the  history  of  the  English  and  North: 
American  Churches,  turn  not  so  much  on  doctrine,  as  on  the 
constitution  and  forms  of  the  Church.  In  place  of  schools  and 
systems  we  have  parties  and  sects,  which  in  many  cases  appear 
in  full  inexorable  opposition,  even  while  occupying  the  platform 
of  the  very  same  confession.  The  mere  question  of  patronage 
has  produced  in  Scotland,  during  the  last  century  and  in  our  own. 
time,  very  important  secessions  ;.  though  the  freedom  of  the  Es- 
tablished Church  in  that  country  is  of  a  high  order,  as  compared. 
with  the  condition  of  the  German  Church  ;  which  nevertheless 
has  no  thought  of  a  separation  from  the  State  on  this  account  ; 
content  if  she  may  be  internally  free,  in  the  midst  of  the  deduc- 
tions of  philosophy  and  the  creations  of  art.. 

Sects,  it  is  true^  do  not  owe  their  origin  to  the  Reformation. 
They  have  root  in  the  general  nature  of  man,  its  sinful  ambition 
and  pride.  The  apostles  were  called  to  oppose  the  evil,  in  the 
very  infancy  of  the  Churchy  as  we  may  learn  from  1  Cor.  1.. 
10  fT.,  as  well  as  from  other  passages.  The  first  centuries  exhi- 
bit a  vast  number  of  sects,  and  they  extend  through  the  whole- 
Middle  Age.  The  Catholic  Church  however  has  gradually  over- 
whelmed them,  partly  by  spiritual  superiority  and  partly  by  out- 
ward force.  Through  the  emancipation  of  a  large  portion  of 
Christendom  from  the  Roman  yoke,  in  the  16th  century,  much; 


112 

more  ample  sco}oe  was  secured  for  the  action  of  subjective  fVee^ 
dom,  so  that  it   became  possible  for  such  separations  to  acquire' 
independent  strength  and  clothe  tiiemselves  with  a  regular  con- 
stitution.    Still   they  were   held   back,  at  the  beginning,  by  the 
thunder  of  Luther's  voice,  and  the  colossal  weight  of  his  person. 
Calvin  too  had  such  a  religious  horror  of  heresies  and  sects,  that 
he  hewed  to  pieces  without  mercy  the  unprincipled  Libertines  of 
Geneva  with  the  sword  of  his  spirit,  and  even  suflfered  the  dis- 
tinguished Spanish  physician,  Michael  Servetus,  to  be  burned,  for 
denying  the  doctrine  of  the   trinity.     In  England,  the  energetic 
goverment  of  Elizabeth    was   enabled  to  unite  the  conflicting 
tendencies   of  protestantism,  though  not  indeed  without  violence 
towards  the  most  stubborn  opposers,  under  a  common  head,  in' the 
form  of  a  complete  state  Church  organization.     But  under  her 
successors,  this  degenerated  continually  more  and  more  into  mere 
external  formalism.      The  consequence  was  the  Puritan  revolu- 
tion, by  means  of  which  under  Cromwell  the  more  free  protes- 
tant  element  gained  the  ascendancy,  though  only  for  a  short  time. 
Laud    atoned   for  the   hierarchical   Charles  L   for  the  political 
sins,   of  the  new  protestant  popedom,  each  with  the  sacrifice  of 
his  own  life.     The  deep  moral  earnestness,  the  stern  self-discip- 
hne,  the  unbending  force  of  character,  exhibited  in  Puritanism, 
must  fill  the  unprejudiced  historian  with  high  admiration.     There 
was  reason  in  its  war  against  the  tyranny  of  false  forms.     When 
it    is   beheld,  with  inexorable  zeal  for  the  first  and  second  com- 
mandments,  storming  the  altars  and  turning  St.  Paul's  cathedral 
into  a  stall   for  horses,  it  strikes   us  as  a  divine  judgment,  the 
scorn  of  the  Most  High  himself,  directed  against  the  pi'oud  crea- 
tions of  men,  and  one  is  reminded  of  the  conduct  of  Moses,  when 
with  indignation  at  the  calf  worship  of  the  Israelites,  he  dashed 
the  tables  of  the  law  to  pieces. 

But  here  precisely  lies  the  weakness  also  of  this  tendency.  Pu- 
ritanism has  a  zeal  for  God,  but  not  according  to  knowledge.  In- 
flamed against  the  despostism  of  bad  forms,  and  the  abuse  of 
such  as  are  good,  it  makes  war  upon  form  in  every  shape,  and 
insists  on  stripping  the  spirit  of  all  covering  whatever,  as  thouo-h 
the  body  were  a  work  of  the  Devil.  If  the  choice  were  simpty 
between  a  bodiless  spirit  and  a  spiritless  body,  the  first  of  course 
must  be  at  once  preferred.  But  there  is  still  a  third  condition, 
that  of  a  sound  spirit  in  a  sound  body  ;  and  this  is  the  best  of  all, 
alone  answering  to  the  will  and  order  of  God.  For  the  body  is 
the  divinely  formed,  natural  habitation  of  the  spirit,  without  which 
it  wanders  about  ghostlike,  exposed  to  all  inclement  powers,  and 
must  in  the  end  perish  with  cold.      It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  a 


113 

large  part  of  the  puritan  or  presby  terian  congregations  in  England, 
and  also  a  considerable  section  of  the  congregational  interest  in 
North  America,  in  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  fell  over  to 
Unitarianism.  The  failure  of  lile,  was  a  failure  of  orthodoxy  at 
the  same  time.  Whereas  in  the  case  of  organizations  better  se- 
cured by  forms,  the  orthodoxy  in  the  same  circumstances  has 
still  maintained  itself  at  least  with  statute  force,  so  that  v/hen  life 
has  returned  again,  after  a  period  of  collapse,  (against  which  no 
constitution  as  such  can  make  the  Church  secure,)  it  has  found  at 
once  its  established  Church  channels,  by  which  to  flow  forth 
among  the  people. 

With  this  rugged,  abstract  spiritualism  stands  closely  connect- 
ed, the  unhistorical,  revolutionary  tendency  of  Puritanism.  It 
has  no  respect  whatever  for  history.  It  would  restore  pure,  prim- 
itive Christianity,  with  entire  disregard  to  the  many  centuries 
of  development  that  lie  between,  as  though  all  had  been  labor  in 
vain,  and  the  Lord  had  not  kept  his  own  promise  to  be  with  the 
Church  always  to  the  end  of  the  world.  It  is  not  surprising,  on 
this  account,  that  Cromwell,  who  overturned  in  such  stormful 
style  the  ecclesiastical  creations  of  an  older  time  and  even  stained 
himself  with  the  blood  of  a  king  and  an  archbishop,  should  hard- 
ly be  named  without  horror  in  the  bosomof  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  that  the  great  and  lofty  qualities  which  undoubtedly  belongedjto. 
his  character  should  be  so  generally  overlooked,  or  regarded  with- 
out respect.'^  He  that  tramples  father  and  mother  under  foot, 
has  no  reason  to  find  fault  with  his  children,  when  they  treat  him 
in  the  same  way,  and  prove  the  instruments  of  a  divine  Nemesis 
to  bring  him  to  a  sense  of  his  own  wrong  committed  against  his- 
tory. With  vastly  more  wisdom,  prudence  and  modoration,  did 
the  founders  of  Methodism  commence  and  carry  forward  their 
work  of  reformation.  Whitefield  and  the  two  Wesleys  never 
laid  aside  their  respect  for  the  mother  Church,  but  notwithstand- 
ing its  degeneracy  labored  in  its  communion  and  died  within  its 
bosom.  The  Wesleyan  movement,  it  is  true,  included  a  secession - 
al  element  from  the  beginning,  wiiich  the  force  of  circumstances 
soon  rendered  too  strong  to  be  restrained  ;  and  the  result  was  the 
establishment  of  a  separate  Church.  The  divorce  however  was 
unnatural  and  wrong  ;  and  the  form  into  which  Methodism  has 
since  run,  in  this  country  particularly,  (the  fair  evolution  of  its 


*  An  attempt  indeed  to  do  him  justice  has  been  made  recently  by 
Thomas  Carlyle,  in  his  book  on  Heroes,  Sect.  VI  :  The  hero  as  a  King, 
Carlyle  hbwever  is  constitutionally  no  episcopalian,  but  a  Scotch  pres^- 
byterian.. 


114 

original  onesided  subjectivity,)  is  not  suited  certainly  to  unsettle- 
this  judgment.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  contemporaneous 
Secession  from  the  Church  of  Scotland,  notwithstanding  the  emi- 
nent piety  of  the  principal  actors  in  it,  must  fall  under  the  same 
condemnation.  The  results  of  it  as  transplanted  again  to  Ameri- 
can soil,  furnish  a  painfully  ridiculous  commentary  on  the  false 
tendency  involved  in  it  from  the  start. 

Puritan  protestantism  forms  properly  the  main  basis  of  our 
North  American  Church.  Viewed  as  a  whole,  she  owes  her 
general  characteristic  features,  her  distinctive  image,  neither  to 
the  German  or  Continental  Reformed,  nor  to  the  German  Luther- 
an, nor  to  the  English  Episcopal  communion,  but  to  that  band  of 
Independents,  who  for  the  sake  of  their  faith  and  a  good  conscience 
forsook  their  native  land  before  the  time  of  Cromwell,  sought  ref- 
uge first  in  Holland,  and  finally  landed  with  prayers  and  tears 
on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  To  this  New  England  in- 
fluence must  be  added  indeed  the  no  less  important  weight  of 
Presbyterianism,  as  derived  subsequently  from  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land. But  this  may  be  regarded  as  in  all  essential  respects  the 
same  life.  The  reigning  theology  of  this  country  is  neither  that 
of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  nor  that  of  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
nor  that  of  the  Thirty  Nine  Articles.  It  is  the  theology  of  the 
Westminister  Confession. 

We  may  never  ungratefully  forget,  that  it  was  this  generation 
of  ^odly  pilgrims  which  once  for  all  stamped  upon  our  country 
thai  character  of  deep  moral  earnestness,  that  spirit  of  strong  in- 
trepid determination,  that  peculiar  zeal  for  the  sabbath  and  the 
bible,  which  have  raised  it  to  so  high  a  place  in  the  history  of  the 
Christian  Church,  and  enable  it  now  to  compare  so  favorably  with 
the  countries  of  the  old  world.  For  our  German  emigration  in 
particular  it  must  be  counted  a  high  privilege,  that  it  is  here 
brought  into  contact  with  the  practical  piety  of  the  English  com- 
munity, and  by  degrees  also  imbued  more  or  less  with  its  power  ; 
thou<;h  with  the  loss,  to  be  regretted  on  the  other  side,  of  many 
German  peculiarities.  Thousands  of  souls,  that  might  have 
died  in  Vanity  and  unbelief  in  their  native  land,  have  been  thus 
rescued,  we  may  trust,  from  eternal  perdition. 

But  whilst  we  thankfully  and  joyfully  acknowledge  this,  we 
have  no  right  still  to  overlook  the  fact,  that  along  with  the  same 
tendency  an  unhistorical  and  unchurchly  character  has  inserted 
itself  also  into  the  inmost  joints  of  our  religious  life.  The  scrip- 
tures are  the  only  source  and  norm  of  saving  truth  ;  but  tradition. 


115 

is  the  channel,  by  which  it  is  carried  forward  in  history.*  The 
letter  of  revelation  transforms  itself  continuously  into  life  and  ac- 
tion, and  this  not  simply  in  the  individual  believer  as  such,  but 
in  the  Christian  Church  as  a  whole,  to  which  as  his  mother  the 
individual  must  hold  himself  subordinate  as  indeed  it  is  only 
through  her  he  receives  the  scriptures  themselves.  The  plan  of 
redempiion,  moreover  calls  for  more  than  the  rescue  simply  of 
individual  souls.  God's  will  is  that  the  body  of  the  redeemed 
should  exhibit  an  organic  communion,  that  may  be  the  image  of 
the  union  that  holds  between  himself  and  the  Only  Begotten  Son. 
This  conception  of  the  communion  of  the  Church,  however,  as 
the  body  of  Christ,  few  here  seem  to  have  reached,  in  its  depth 
and  glory.  The  principle  of  Congregationalism,  which  has  exer- 
cised such  vast  influence  upon  the  entire  conformation  of  our  re- 
ligious views  and  relations,  leads  legitimately  to  full  Atomism. 
The  bible  principle,  in  its  abstract  separation  from  tradition,  or 
Church  development,  furnishes  no  security  against  sects.  They 
make  their  appeal  collectively  to  the  sacred  volume  ;  the  Devil 
himself  does  so,  when  it  suits  his  purpose.  Strongly  also  as 
Puritanism  and  Congregationalism,  in  their  theocratic,  state 
Church  period,  endeavoured  to  secure  a  religious  and  civil  union 
of  their  members,  a  subordination  of  the  individual  to  the  general, 
the  system  is  clearly  impotent  in  this  direction.  It  includes  no 
limitation  for  the  principle  of  sects.  In  its  own  nature  it  is  un- 
historical  and  onesidedly  spiritualistic,  and  has  no  reason  on  this 
account  to  require  or  expect,  that  its  children  should  be  bound  by 
its  authority,  more  than  it  has  itself  been  bound  by  the  authority 
of  its  own  spiritual  ancestry.  The  theocratic  period  accordingly 
soon  ran  its  course.  With  the  Revolution,  the  separation  of 
Church  and  State  became  general  and  fixed.  As  there  was  now 
no  hierarchic  bond  on  the  one  hand,  as  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  so 
neither  was  there  any  civil  supremacy  on  the  other,  as  in  Ger- 
many, the  Episcopal  Church  of  England  and  the  Greek  Church 
of  Russia,  by  which  the  single  elements  might  be  held  together. 
The  emigration  from  the  old  world  increased  meanwhile  with 
every  year,  transporting  with  it  the  germs  of  sectarian  distinction 

*  When  we  speak  here,  and  afterwards  occasionally,  in  favor  of  tra- 
dition, the  reader  is  requested  to  bear  always  in  mind  what  we  have 
already  said  of  the  different  kinds  of  tradition.  We  plead  for  it,  not  of 
course  in  the  Romish  sense,  which  makes  it  a  source  of  knowledge  in- 
dependent of  the  bible,  and  co-ordinate  with  it  in  rank,  but  as  exhibit- 
ing the  consciousness  the  Church  has  of  the  contents  of  the  bible,  the 
Christian  reason  in  the  form  of  history,  the  living  word  of  God  in  the 
Church  as  it  flows  forth  from  the  word  written. 


116 

=and  material  for  new  religious  formations.  Tendencies  which  had 
found  no  political  room  to  unfold  themselves  in  other  lands, 
wrought  here  without  restraint.  All  the  circumstances  of  the 
country,  in  one  word,  have  contributed  to  precipitate  the  Church 
into  those  evils  precisely,  with  which  she  was  least  qualified  in  her 
orisinal  character  successfully  to  contend. 

Thus  we  have  come  gradually  to  have  a  host  of  sects,  which  it 
is  no  longer  easy  to  number,  and  that  still  continues  to  swell  from 
year  to  year.*  Where  the  process  of  separation  is  destined  to 
end,  no  human  calculation  can  foretell.  "^Any  one  who  has,  or 
fancies  that  he  has,  some  inward  experience  and  a  ready  tongue, 
may  persuade  himself  that  he  is  called  to  be  a  reformer  j  and  so 
proceed  at  once,  in  his  spiritual  vanity  and  pride,  to  a  revolutio- 
nary rupture  with  the  historical  life  of  the  Church,  to  which  he 
holds  himself  immeasurably  superior.  He  builds  himself  of  a 
night  accordingly  a  new  chapel,  in  which  now  for  the  first  time 
since  the  age  of  the  apostles  a  pure  congregation  is  to  be  formed  ; 
baptizes  his  followers  with  his  own  name,  to  which  he  thus  se- 
cures an  immortality,  unenviable  it  is  true,  but  such  as  is  always 
flattering  to  the  natural  heart ;  rails  and  screams  with  full  throat 
against  all  that  refuses  to  do  homage  to  his  standard  ;  and  with 
all  this  though  utterly  unprepared  to  understand  a  single  book,  is 
not  ashamed  to  appeal  continually  to  the  scriptures,  as  having 
been  sealed  entirely,  or  in  large  part,  to  the  understanding  of 
eighteen  centuries,  and  even  to  the  view  of  our  Reformers  them- 
selves, till  now  at  last  God  has  been  pleased  to  kindle  the  true 
light  in  an  obscure  corner  of  the  new  world  !  Thus  the  deceived 
multitude,  having  no  power  to  discern  spirits,  is  converted  not  to 
Christ  and  his  truth,  but  to  the  arbitraty  fancies  and  baseless 
opinions  of  an  individual,  who  is  only  of  yesterday.  Such  con- 
version is  of  a  truth  only  /perversion  ;  such  theology,  neology  ; 
such  ea;position  of  the  bible,  wretched  imposition.  What  is  built 
is  no  Church,  but  a  chapel,  to  whose  erection  Satan  himself  has 
made  the  most  liberal  contribution. 

Such  is  the  aspect  of  our  land.  A  variegated  sampler  of  all 
conceivable  religious  chimeras  and  dreams,  in  connection  with 
more  sober  systems  of  sectarian  faith  !  Every  theological  vaga- 
bond and  pedler  may  drive  here  his  bungling  trade,  without  pass- 
port or  license,  and  sell  his  false  ware  at  pleasure.  What  is  to 
come  of  such  confusion  is  not  now  to  be  seenV 


*  The  latest  work  on  the  American  Church,  Jn  Original  History  of 
the  Religious  Denominations  at  present  existing  in  the  United  Slates,  ^c.  by 
I.  D.  liupp,  rhiladelphia,  1844,  gives  an  account  of  not  less  than  forty 
one  protestant  sects,  but  is  notwithstanding  by  no  means  complete. 


117 

Nor  is  it  enough  that  all  these  poisonous  weeds  shoot  up  thus 
■wild  and  luxuriant,  in  our  protestant  garden.  Even  those  divi- 
sions of  the  Church,  that  are  essentially  rooted  in  the  same  evan- 
gelical soil,  and  that  cannot  well  be  included  in  the  category  of 
sects,  stand  for  the  most  part  in  such  hostile  relation  to  one  ano- 
ther, and  shew  so  little  inclination  or  impulse  towards  an  inward 
and  outward  union  in  the  Lord,  that  one  might  weep  to  think  of  it. 
There  are  indeed  single  cases  of  honorable  exception,  which  I 
know  how  to  value.  Without  them,  we  might  well  nigh  despair. 
In  a  broad  general  view  of  the  case  however,  particularly  as  it  is 
exhibited  in  the  periodical  organs  of  the  diffei-ent  denominations^ 
the  evidences  of  a  wrong  spirit  are  sufficiently  clear.  Jealousy 
and  contention,  and  malicious  disposition  in  various  forms,  are 
painfully  common.  We  see  but  little  of  that  charity,  which  suf- 
fereth  long  and  is  kind,  envieth  not,  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not 
puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly,  seeketh  not  her  own, 
is  not  easily  provoked,  and  thinketh  no  evil  ;  that  rejoiceth  not  in 
iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth,  wherever  it  may  be  found  ; 
that  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  en- 
dureth  ail  things.  No,  alas  ;  with  shame  and  humiliation  be  it 
confessed,  the  different  sections  of  our  orthodox  Protestantism 
also,  are  severally  bent  on  securing  absolute  dominion,  take  satis- 
faction too  often  in  each  other's  damage,  undervalue  and  disparage 
each  other's  merits,  regard  more  their  separate  private  interest 
than  the  general  interest  of  the  kingdoni  of  God,  and  show  them- 
selves stiff  willed  and  obstinately  selfish  wherever  it  comes  to  the 
relinquishment,  or  postponement  even,  of  subordinate  differences 
for  the  sake  of  a  great  common  object. 

To  the  man  who  has  any  right  idea  of  the  Church,  as  the  com- 
munion of  saints,^  this  state  of  things  must  be  a  source  of  deep 
distress.  The  loss  of  all  his  earthly  possessions,  the  death  of  his 
dearest  friend,  however  severely  felt,  would  be  as  nothing  to  him, 
compared  with  the  grief  he  feels  for  such  division  and  distraction 
of  the  Church  of  God,  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ.  Not  for  the 
price  of  the  whole  world,  with  all  its  treasures,  could  he  be  in- 
duced to  appear  as  the  founder  of  a  new  sect.  A  sorrowful  dis- 
tinction that  in  any  view  ;  and  one  besides  that  calls  for  small 
spiritual  capital  indeed  in  these  United  States. 

I  am  well  aware,  that  many  respectable  Christians  satisfy  their 
minds  on  the  subject  of  sectism,  by  looking  at  it  as  the  natural 
fruit  of  evangelical  liberty.  In  the  main  matter,  the  leading  or- 
thodox protestant  parties,  they  tell  us,  Episcopalian,  Presbyterian* 
Methodist,  Lutheran  and  Reformed,  are  all  one ;  their  differences 
have  respect  almost  altogether  to  government  and  worship  only^ 

11 


118 

that  is  to  the  outward  conformation  of  the  Church,  in  the  case  of 
which  the  Lord  has  allowed  large  freedom  ;  and  so  far  as  they 
may  have  a  doctrinal  character,  they  may  be  said  to  regard  not  so 
much  the  substance  of  the  truth  itself,  as  the  theological  form 
simply  under  which  it  is  apprehended.  The  separation  of  these 
Churches,  in  the  mean  time,  is  attended,  we  are  told,  with  this 
great  advantage,  that  it  serves  to  stimulate  their  zeal  and  activity, 
and  to  extend  in  this  way  the  interest  of  religion.  This  last  point 
we  shall  not  pretend  here  to  dispute  ;  but  the  advantage,  so  far 
as  it  may  exist,  is  to  be  ascribed,  not  to  the  divisions  in  question  as 
such,  but  only  to  God,  who  in  his  wisdom  can  bring  good  out  of 
all  evil.  In  the  balance  of  the  last  judgment  moreover,  good 
works  that  proceed  from  ambition  and  emulation,  only  will  be 
found  to  carry  but  little  if  any  weight. 

From  those  however  who  undertake  to  justify  the  sect  system 
as  a  whole,  the  apologists  of  religious  fanaticism  and  faction,  I 
would  fain  require  some  biblical  ground  in  favor  of  what  is  thus 
upheld.  Not  a  solitary  passage  of  the  bible  is  on  their  side.  Its 
whole  spirit  is  against  them.  The  Lord  is  come  to  make  of  twain 
one  ;  to  gather  the  dispersed  children  of  God,  throughout  the 
whole  world,  into  one  fold,  under  one  Shepherd.  His  last  com- 
mand to  his  disciples  was,  that  they  should  love  one  another,  and 
serve  one  another,  as  he  had  loved  and  served  them.  His  last 
prayer,  before  his  bitter  passion,  was  that  all  his  followers  might 
be  made  perfect  in  one,  as  he  was  in  the  Father  and  the  Father  in 
him.  Of  the  first  Christians  we  read,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
that  they  were  of  one  heart  and  one  mind,  and  continued  steadfast 
in  the  apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  in  the  breaking  of 
bread  and  prayer.  Paul  exhorts  the  Corinthians  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  that  they  should  all  speak  the  same  thing  and  that 
there  should  be  no  divisions  among  them ;  but  that  they  should 
be  perfectly  joined  together  in  the  same  mind  and  in  the  same 
judgment.  They  must  not  call  themselves  after  Paul,  or  Apollos, 
or  Cephas,  or  Christ  in  the  way  of  party  or  sect.  For  Christ  was 
not  divided  ;  and  Paul  had  not  been  crucified  for  them  ;  and  no 
one  had  been  baptized  into  the  name  of  Paul,  but  all  into  the 
name  of  Christ.  The  entire  view  taken  by  this  apostle  of  the 
nature  of  the  Church,  as  the  one  body  of  Christ,  whose  members 
all  partake  of  the  same  life  blood  and  are  set  for  mutual  assist- 
ance ;  having  one  hope  of  their  calling,  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one 
baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all  ;  endeavoring  to  keep  the 
unity  of  the  one  body  and  one  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace  ;  this 
view,  I  say,  inflicts  a  death  blow,  with  one  stroke,  on  the  whole 
sectarian  and  denominational  system.  Peter  describes  the  Church 


119 

as  a  single  spiritual  temple,  built  up  with  living  stones  on  the 
same  living  foundation,  Jesus  Christ.  John  places  one  great 
mark  of  Christianity  in  love  to  the  brethren  ;  and  when  in  his 
old  age  he  was  carried  to  the  church,  having  no  strength  more 
for  any  long  address,  he  would  still  repeat  that  one  exhortation, 
as  comprehending  all  besides,  Children,  love  one  another. 

Perhaps  however  the  sect;  system  must  still  be  regarded,  as  at 
all  events  the  last  necessary  consequence  and  unavoidable  fruit  of 
Protestantism  7  So  many  protestants  even,  and  of  course  all  pa- 
pists affirm.  If  such  were  the  fact,  the  Reformation  must  stand 
in  direct  contradiction  to  the  holy  scriptures,  and  be  adjudged  by 
its  own  umpire  to  condemnation,  as  a.  sinful  work  of  man.  But, 
God  be  praised,  the  case  is  not  thus  bad.  The  reproach  is  of  the 
same  order  with  that  other,  which  as  we  have  already  seen  would 
shove  us  into  the  arms  of  Rationalism  and  Pantheism,  as  our  only 
legitimate  resting  place. 

As  in  that  case,  so  in  this  we  repel  the  alliance  as  unnatural 
and  false.  The  sect-system,  like  Rationalism,  is  a  prostitution 
and  caricature  of  true  Protestantism,  and  nothing  else.  We  have 
shown,  in  the  first  part  of  this  tract,  that  the  Reformation  was  no 
arbitrary  novelty,  but  the  fruit  of  all  the  better  tendencies  of  the 
Catholic  Church  itself;  that  the  Reformers  aimed  at  no  separation 
from  the  reigning  Church,  but  that  this  was  wholly  the  work  of 
the  pope.  Had  they 'been  permitted  to  preach  the  pure  word  of 
God  with  freedom,  and  to  administer  the  sacraments  according  to 
Christ's  appointment,  they  would  have  remained  in  their  original 
communion.  But  in  what  orthodox  protestant  party  of  our  day, 
is  this  forbidden  1  No  man  is  in  danger  with  us  of  being  burned 
or  deposed,  for  preaching  the  gospel.  Both  in  the  Reformed 
Church  and  in  the  Lutheran,  thank  God,  the  word  may  be  pro- 
claimed in  its  purity  ;  in  both  the  conversion  of  souls  may  go 
forward  without  hindrance.  In  this  view  therefore  our  position 
is  wholly  different ;  so  that  modern  sectaries  have  no  good  reason 
whatever,  for  breaking  communion  with  the  Church.  True,  there 
are  defects  and  faults  enough  in  each  of  these  Churches.  But 
these  may  and  should  be  reproved  within  the  communion  itself, 
that  so  if  possible  the  whole  body  may  be  healed.  When  more- 
over the  RetlDrmers,  for  conscience'  sake,  and  because  they  would 
obey  God  and  his  word  rather  than  men  and  their  ordinances, 
proceeded  to  form  a  communion  of  their  own,  nothing  could  be 
farther  from  their  intention  in  doing  so,  than  to  throw  open  the 
door  for  the  system  of  sects.  Their  object  was  not  to  upset  the 
Church,  and  break  the  regular  course  of  its  historical  life  ;  but 
only  to  restore  to  it  once  more  the  clear  light  and  sure  rule  of 


120 

God's  word  ;  not  to  emancipate  the  individual  to  uncontrolled 
freedom,  but  to  bind  him  to  the  definite  objective  authority  of 
God's  truth  and  grace.  Luther  exhibited  the  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation as  precisely  the  true  ground  of  Christian  union,  and  tbught 
with  all  the  strength  of  his  gigantic  spirit  against  the  fanatical  and 
factious  tendencies  of  his  time.  His  last  wish,  as  that  of  Melanc- 
THON  also,  wrestled  for  the  unity  of  the  Church.  His  most  de- 
pressing fear  was  still :  "  After  our  death,  there  will  rise  many- 
harsh  and  terrible  sects.  God  help  us  !"  Calvin  utters  himself 
against  sectaries,  with  his  own  peculiar  cutting  severity,*  and  re- 
pulses the  reproach  that  Protestantism  itself  was  a  sect,  in  the 
strongest  terms.f 

From  all  this  it  appears,  that  in  this  practical  respect  also,  as 
well  as  in  its  theoretic  relations  as  before  considered,  the  posture 
of  the  Protestant  principle  is  different  now  from  what  it  was  at 
the  time  of  the  Reformation.  The  most  dangerous  foe  with  which 
we  are  called  to  contend,  is  again  not  the  Church  of  Rome  but 
the  sect-plague  in  our  own  midst  ;  not  the  single  pope  of  the  city 
of  seven  hills,  but  the  numberless  popes,  German,  English,  and 
American,  who  would  fain  enslave  protestants  once  more  to  hu- 
man authority,  not  as  embodied  in  the  Church  indeed,  but  as 
holding  in  the  form  of  mere  private  judgment  and  private  will. 
What  we  need  to  oppose  to  these,  is  not  our  formal  principle;  for 
they  all  appeal  themselves  to  the  bible,  though  without  right ; 
but  the  power  of  history,  and  the  idea  of  the  Church,  as  the  pillar 
and  ground  of  the  truth,  the  mother  of  all  believers,  with  due  sub-^ 


*  Imtit.  IV.  c.  1. 

■\  Ibid.  IV.  c.  2.  §.  5.  Jam  vero  quod  leos  schismatis  et  haereseos 
nos  agunt  (Romanenses),  quia  et  dissimilem  praedicemus  doctrinam,  et 
suis  legibus  non  pareamus,  et  seorsum  conventus  ad  preces,  ad  baptis- 
mum,  ad  coenae  administrationem  aliasque  sacras  actiones  habeamus  : 
gravissima  quidem  est  accusatio,  sed  quae  nequaquam  longa  aut  laborio- 
sa  defensione  opus  habet.  Haeretici  et  schismatici  vocantur,  qui  dissi- 
dio  facto  ecclesiae  communionem  dirimunt.  This  communion  however 
with  the  true  Church  and  her  only  head  Christ,  he  goes  on  to  say,  the 
protestants  have  maintained,  and  for  this  reason  have  been  thrust  out 
from  the  false  Church,  as  the  apostles  formerly,  who  had  the  true  spirit 
of  the  Old  Testament,  were  expelled  from  the  Jewish  synagoorues. 
Eant  nunc  (§.  6.)  et  clamitent  haereticos  nos  esse,  qui  ab  ipsorum  ec- 
clesia  recesserimus,  quum  nulla  alicnationis  causafuerit^  nisi  hate  una^ 
quod  puram  veritatis  professionem  nullo  modoferrc possunt.  Taceo  a utem, 
quod  anathematibus  et  diris  nos  expulerunt.  Quod  tamen  ipsum  satis 
superque  nos  absolvit,  nisi  apostolos  quoque  schismatis  damnare  velint, 
quihuscum  similem  habemus  cuasam. 


121 

©rdination  always  to  the  written  word.  In  this  controversy  we 
may  be  said  rather  to  have  the  Roman  Church,  in  a  certain  sense, 
on  our  side  ;  though  we  may  never  employ  against  sects  the  same 
carnal  weapons,  and  propose  not  for  ourselves  such  unity  as  is 
offered  to  us  from  her  hand.  For  this  in  the  end  is  an  outward 
sameness  only,  in  which  the  divinely  ordained  prerogatives  of  the 
individual  subject  are  disregarded  and  trampled  under  foot, 
and  all  opposition  as  it  rises  from  time  to  time,  is  either  covered 
with  a  hypocritical  mask,  or  kept  down  by  the  strong  hand  of 
power.  Hence  accordingly  when  it  comes  to  full  strength,  and 
can  no  longer  be  repressed,  its  violence  proves  vastly  more  de- 
structive, than  it  would  be  in  connection  with  Protestantism  ;  as  we 
see  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  case  of  the  French  Revolution. 
We  ought  never  to  forget  however,  that  Romanism  has  already 
drawn,  and  continues  to  draw  still,  its  principal  advantage  from 
the  pseudo-protestant  sect  system,  as  well  as  from  Rationalism. 
Its  recent  show  of  new  life  and  power  finds  here  precisely  its  pro- 
per explanation.  Continually  its  laugh  of  malicious  triumph  is 
going  up,  in  view  of  our  cancerous  affection.  If  then  we  would 
contend  successfully  with  Romanism,  we  must  first  labor  to  put 
away  from  ourselves  the  occasions,  that  now  lay  us  open  so 
broadly  to  its  attacks.  Away  with  human  denominations,  down 
with  religious  sects  !  Let  our  watchword  be  :  One  spirit  and  one 
body  I  One  Shepherd  and  one  flock  !  All  conventicles  and  chapels 
must  perish,  that  from  their  ashes  may  rise  the  One  Church  of 
God,  phenix  like  and  resplendent  with  glory,  as  a  bride  adorned 
for  her  bridegroom- 

Rationalism  and  Sectarism  then  are  the  most  dangerous  ene- 
mies of  our  Church  at  the  present  time.  They  are  both  but  dif- 
ferent sides  of  one  and  the  same  principle^  a  onesided,  false 
subjectivity,  sundered  from  the  authority  of  the  objective. 
Rationalism  is  theoretic  Sectarism ;  Sectarism  is  practical  Ra- 
tionalism*^ 

II.    PCSBYISM,    THE    REACTION    OF   THESE    DISEASES,    BUT    NOT 
THEIR   REMEDY. 

Who  now  will  guide  the  vessel  of  orthodox  Protestantism  safe- 
ly between  these  rocks  ?  In  such  peril,  the  helmsman  looks  anx- 
iously around  for  help,  come  whence  it  may.  Possibly  the  reefs 
draw  still  closer  together,  so  that  the  ship  proceeding  in  the  same 
course,  must  at  last  inevitably  founder.  Were  it  not  best  then, 
that  it  should  tack  about,  and  seek  again  the  old  haven  frorfti 
which  it  started  ? 

1/1* 


122 

So  think  the  Puseyites,  so  named  from  their  leader,  or  the- 
Tractarians,  as  they  are  styled  from  their  principal  organ,  the 
"Tracts  for  the  Times,"  or  the  Anglo-Catholics,  as  they  choose 
to  be  called  themselves.  Let  us  see,  whether  they  have  found  the 
true  remedy  for  the  complaints  of  the  Protestant  Church. 

It  is  scarcely  more  than  ten  years,  since  the  tendency  in  ques- 
tion appeared  in  the  ancient  metropolis  of  English  theology,  in 
the  midst  of  the  venerable  remains  of  Church  antiquity,  and  upon 
the  same  seals  of  instruction,  where  once  along  with  schoolmen ^ 
and  papists  the  voice  of  Wickhefe  sounded,,  and  where  the  In- 
stitutes of  Calvin  were  afterwards  for  a  long  time  honored,  as 
the  highest  dogmatic  authority.     Within  this  short  period,  it  has 
spread  throughout  the  old  and  new  worlds.  Sympathies  long  pre- 
pared for  its   reception,  have  been  met  by  it  in  every  direction  ; 
particularly  in  the  old  anti-"Union"  Lutheranism  of  Germany, 
which  has  been  transplanted  also  to  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.     It 
has  brought  into  clear  consciousness,  on  all  sides,  spiritual  ten- 
dencies and  wants   which  were  not  previously  understood.     Al- 
ready thus  it  appears   clothed  with  a  world-historical  importance. 
I  have  myself  hardly  ever  before  had  such  an  impression  of  the 
objective  power  of  the  "idea,"  as  during  the  course  of  my  late 
travel,  through   Germany,  Swit2;erland,  Belgium,  England,  and 
North  America;  encountering  as  I  did  everywhere,  in  the  per- 
sons of  distinguished  ministers  and  laymen,  if  not  precisely  Pu- 
seyism  itself,  at  least  aspirations  and  endeavors  of  a  more  or  less 
kindred  spirit.      Of  what  avail  against  such  a  life  question,  the 
true  burden  of  the  age  itself,  can  be  the  hue  and  cry  of  Popery  ! 
Romanism  !  nonsensically  kept  up  by  our  intelligence  and  anti- 
intelligence  prints  1  Grapple  with  the  subject  in  earnest.     Bring 
the  fire  engines.      Extinguish  the  ffame.     U  ye  do  but  idly  stare 
at  it,  or  stand  before  it  lamenting  and  railing  with  folded  hands, 
assuredly    it  will   soon  burst  triumphantly  through  the  roof,  and 
leave  you  at  last  houseless  and  bare.     Nothing  can  well  be  more 
shallow  and  miserable,  and   full   of  senseless  pretension  withal, 
than  the  style  in  which  the  controversy  with  Popery  and  Pusey- 
ism,  is  to   a  great  extent  conducted  in  our  religious  periodicals. 
It  may  be  said  to  be   for  the  most  part  ammunition  expended  in 
vain,  time  and  labor  lost  for  writer  and  reader  alike.     If  the  ten- 
dencies in    question  encounter  nothing  more  solid  than  such  e- 
phemeral  opposition,  their  victory  may  be  counted  sure. 

I  look  upon  Puseyism  as  an  entirely  legitimate  and  ncce-ssary 
reaction  against  rationalistic  and  scctaristic  pseudo-protestant- 
ism, as  well  as  the  religious  subjectivism  of  the  so  called  Lqxi^ 


123 

Church  Party  ;,  with  which  the   significance  of  the  Church  has 
been  forgotten,   or  at  least   practically  undervalued,  in  favor  of 
personal  individual  piety,  the  sacraments  in  favor  of  faith,  sancti- 
tication  in  favor  of  justification,  and  tradition  in  its  right  sense  in 
favor  of  the  holy   scriptures.     I  make  indeed  no  question,  but 
that  with  many  who  belong  to  this   neo-catholic  school  a  feeling 
of  poetical  romance  is  more  prevalent  than  true  religious  convic- 
tion ;  that  others  again,  among  the  clergy  especially,  are  swayed 
more  or  less   by   hierarchic   interest  ;  and  that  still  a  third  class, 
largest  of  all  perhaps,  are  carried  along  with  the  alluring  move-- 
ment  by  the  current  of  mere  fashion.      But  with  all  these  allow> 
ances,  when  we  take  the  movement  in  its  whole  compass  as  exhib- 
ited in  its  authors   and  leaders  in  England,  we  must  admit  that 
it  jrests  upon  decidedly  religious  and  true   Church  ground,  and 
springs  from  grief  on  the  one  hand  over  the  disjointed,  discinctur- 
ed  character  of  the  age,  and  an  endeavour  after  Christian  catholi-- 
city    and  unity   on   the   other.     Hence  we  find  it  characterised 
by  deep  moral  earnestness,  reverential  solemnity,  and  a  certain 
spiritual  dignity    of  tone  and  manner  even  in  controversy  itself. 
It   has  a  proper  feeling  of  respect  for  history  ;  looks  reverently 
after  the  remains  of  the  religious  life  of  other  days  ;  cherishes  a 
filial  homage  towards  the  Christian  Past.     It  exalts  the  authority 
of  the  general  over  all  that  is  simply  single,  and  makes  the  reason 
of  the  Church  to  be  more  than  that  of  the  individual ;  counteract- 
ing thus  the  rage   for  independence  that   rules  the   time.       It 
holds  fast  to  the  importance  of  the  sacraments,  as  objective  insti- 
tutions of  the  Lord,   that  hang  not  on  the  precarious  state  of  the 
subject,    but  include  an   actual  living  presence  of  Christ  for  the 
purposes  they  are  intended  to  secure,  as  real  as  that  by  which  he 
stood  among  his  disciples  in  the  days  of  his  flesh.     It  restores  the 
week  services,  the  Church  festivals,  and'frequent  communions  after 
the  example  of  the   first  ages  ;   lays  stress  on  religious  discipline 
for  the   whole  man  outward  as  well  as  inward  ;  seeks  to   revive 
the  sense  of  sacrificial  consecration  to  God  ;  has  an  open  eye  for 
Church  Art,   and  takes   pleasure   in  beautifying  sanctuaries  and 
altars  ;  on  the    principle  that  what  is  best  should  belong  to  tl^e 
Lord,  and  that  such  decoration  is  only  the  natural  expression  of 
childlike  love,  as  it  might  be  expected  to  show  itself  even  towards 
a  human  friend,  being  well  suited  at  the  same  time  to  cfssist  devo- 
tion  in   the  way  of  support  and  elevation  through  the  senses. 
With  all  this  it  designs  not  at  all  to  fall  back  to  Romanism,  but 
only  to  revive  once  more  the  fair  usages,  lost  and  forgotten,  of 
the  undivided,   universal  primitive  Church,  as  nearest  to  the  age 
of  the  apostles  and  so  to  the  fountain  of  Christianity  ;  and  thus 
also  to  hold  within  the  Protestant  communion  such  as  feel  them- 


124 

selves  urged  to  forsake  it,  through  dissatisfaction  with  the  usua 
nakedness  and  barrenness  of  its  worship. 

In  all  this,  considered  by  itself,  I  find  nothing  that  is  absolutely 
wrong.  Rather  it  is  my  firm  conviction,  that  we  must  ourselves 
appropriate  fully  some  of  the  more  general  views  lying  at  the 
ground  of  Puseyism,  to  be  secure  against  its  advances,  and  to 
prevent  its  errors  from  spreading  continually  more  and  more 
along  with  its  truth.  We  too  must  take  a  wider  range,  and  our 
faith  in  the  one  universal  Christian  Church  must  show  itself  to  be, 
not  merely  a  confession  of  the  mouth,  but  pov/er  and  truth,  life 
and  act.  We  too  may  not  seek  the  perfection  of  our  own  com- 
munion, apart  from  the  perfection  of  the  entire  Christian  Church. 
We  too  must  be  like  the  good  householder  who  gathers  up  even 
the  fragments,  appropriating  to  ourselves  from  the  stores  of  early 
Christian  history  in  particular,  what  has  sprung  from  God  and 
proved  a  blessing  to  thousands  and  millions.  We  too  must  bear 
in  mind,  that  the  single  can  hold  with  advantage  only  in  due  sub- 
ordination to  the  general,  and  that  there  can  be  no  true  freedom 
save  in  the  form  of  subjection  to  the  authority  of  God. 

So  far  we  go  with  the  young  Oxford  hand  in  hand,  at  the 
hazard  even  of  being  called  reformed  Catholic,  or  catholic  Pro- 
testant. So  soon  however  as  it  comes  to  the  choice  of  the  means- 
by  which  the  object  in  view  is  to  be  reached,  we  are  constrained 
to  part  with  it,  as  unsound  and  unsafe.  Its  "tracts  for  the  times" 
are  not  just  "tracts  for  eternity."  Its  grand  defect,  forming  an 
impassable  gulph  between  it  and  our  position,  is  its  utter  misap- 
prehension of  the  divine  significance  of  the  Reforirmtionr,  with 
its  consequent  develo<pment,  that  is  of  the  entire  Protestant  period 
of  the  Church^  As  to  Romanism,  so  to  Puseyism  also,  there  is 
wanting  the  true  idea  of  development  altogether.  It  regards  the 
Church  as  a  system  handed  down  under  a  given  awd  complete 
form,  that  must  remain  perpetually  the  same.  It  confounds  with 
Christianity  itself,  which  we  may  never  and  can  never  transcend, 
and  which  is  always  equally  perfect,  the  measure  o^  lis  apprehen- 
sion on  the  part  of  mankind,  or  its  appropriation  into  the  con- 
sciousness ef  the  Church,  which  like  the  life  of  the  spirit  univer- 
sally, from  first  to  last,  has  the  character  of  a  genesis  or  procesj^ 
and  passes  through  different  stages  of  growth.  With  all  their 
historical  feeling,  the  Puseyites  show  themselves  \vith  regard  to 
the  Reformation  absolutely  unhistorical.  They  wish  to  shut  out 
of  view  the  progress  of  the  last  three  centuries  entirely  ;  to  treat 
the  whole  as  a  negation,  if  possible  ;  and  by  one  vast  leap  to  car- 
ry the  Church  back  to  the  point  where  it  stood  before  the  separa- 


125 

lion  of  the  Oriental  and  Western  Communions,  when  however  the 
tendencies  were  already  at  work  which  led  with  historical  necessi- 
ty afterwards  to  the  popish  system  in  its  worst  form.  Turn  and 
twist  as  they  may,  with  their  external,  mechanical  conception  of 
the  Church  and  episcopacy,  the  Reformation  can  be  to  them  pro- 
perly an  aposiacy  only  from  the  true  Church,  and  they  must  un- 
church entirely  all  those  Protestant  bodies  that  have  parted  with 
the  episcopal  constitution.  Their  doctrine  of  episcopal  succes- 
sion, with  its  denial  of  the  universal  priesthood  of  all  believers,  the 
episcopal  and  apostolical  character  of  every  inwardly  and  out- 
wardly called  minister  of  Christ,  involving  the  papistical  idea  of 
a  clerical  mediatorship  between  God  and  man  — ■  this  is  the  old 
leaven  of  the  Pharisees,  which  has  never  been  thoroughly  purged 
out  of  the  Anglican  Church,  and  that  may  be  said  now  to  offend 
Protestant  feeling  in  the  writings  of  the  Oxford  school  in  particu- 
lar, from  beojinnino-  to  end.  If  this  succession  were  taken  as  one 
simply  of  doctrine  and  ministry,  successio  Spiritus  Dei,  doctrmae 
evangelii  and  ministerii  divini,  it  would  carry  a  perfectly  ration- 
al meaning,  necessarily  included  in  the  conception  of  the  Church, 
as  the  abiding  and  indissoluble  communion  of  believers  in  Christ ; 
and  in  this  view  it  might  be  confidently  claimed  by  the  whole 
orthodox  Protestant  interest,  with  which  both  word  and  sacra- 
i3Qent,  ministry  and  ordination,  are  continued,  and  the  founders  of 
which  derived  their  own  ordination  regularly  from  the  Catholic 
Church.  But  instead  of  this,  the  idea  is  limited  to  the  order  of 
the  bishops,  unscripturally  sundered  from  the  laity  and  lower 
clergy,  as  though  they  were  specifically  different  in  their  nature, 
and  were  alone  competent  to  transmit  ministerial  power.  All 
ends  in  a  personal,  outward,  mechanical  succession.  The  Spirit 
of  God,  whose  very  nature  it  is  to  be  free,  is  thus  bound  to  a  par- 
ticular ecclesiastical  structure,  for  which  no  sure  authority  can  be 
found  in  the  New  Testament  ;  and  the  apostolical  legitimacy  of  a 
Church  is  made  to  turn  upon  a  question  of  history,  in  the  case  of 
which  besides  by  reason  of  the  darkness  that  hangs  over  certain 
periods,  during  the  earlier  part  especially  of  the  Middle  Ages  no 
satisfactory  result  is  possible.  Altogether  a  most  crazy  founda- 
tion, on  which  to  build  so  momentous  an  interest.  According  to 
this  theory,  Paul  was  illegitimate  fully,  because  he  had  his  ordi- 
nation neither  from  the  Lord  nor  from  an  apo.stle,  but  from  a  sim- 
ple presbyter  in  Damascus.  His  judaizing  adversaries,  who  had 
already  in  substance  the  puseyite  view,  were  right  then  in  divest- 
ing him  at  once  of  all  apostolical  credit.  How  monstrous  again 
is  the  position,  necessarily  involved  in  the  same  theory,  that  the 
dead  Armenian  and  Greek  denominations,  because  they  have 
bishops,  .belong   regularly  to  the  Holy  Church  Catholic,  while 


126 

the  German  Reformed,  Lutheran,  and  Presbyterian  bodies,  with 
all  their  religious  life,  are  flatly  denied  any  such  character,  and 
even  their  most  godly  and  successful  ministers  are  branded  as  ec- 
clesiastical bastards,  or  mere  hirelings  privily  smuggled  into  the 
sanctuary.  God  be  praised,  for  that  word  of  the  Lord,  "By 
their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  and  that  love  is  made,  in  ano- 
ther place,  the  criterion  of  discipleship. 

Let  it  be  allowed  that  the  Tractarians  are  right,  and  all  un- 
bishoped  Churches  are  left  without  hope,  till  their  clergy  submit 
to  have  their  character  made  valid  by  the  hands  of  his  Grace  of 
Canterbury,  or  some  diocesan  Onderdonk  on  this  side  the  At- 
lantic ;  unless  indeed  they  should  prefer  to  have  recourse  at  once 
to  the  holy  father  at  Rome,  or  the  patriarch  no  less  holy  of  Con- 
stantinople. Preposterous  imagination  !  Can^the  Church  be  ren- 
ovated, by  putting  on  a  new  coat  ?  I  have  all  respect  for  the 
episcopal  system.  It  possesses  in  fact  many  undeniable  advan- 
tages, and  by  its  antiquity  besides  must  command  the  veneratioa 
of  all  who  have  any  right  historical  feeling.  But  the  thought 
must  be  utterly  rejected,  that  it  carries  in  its  constitution  as  such, 
the  proper  and  only  remedy,  for  the  existing  wounds  of  Protes- 
tantism. Does  it  offer  any  sure  guaranty  for  union  ?  The  con- 
tests with  which  the  English  Episcopal  Church  has  been  torn, 
especially  for  the  last  ten  years,  (to  say  nothing  of  the  posture  of 
our  American  Episcopacy  at  this  moment,)  sufficiently  show  the 
contrary.  Or  does  it  furnish  more  efficient  means  for  the  promo- 
tion of  true  inward  piety  ?  Let  the  state  of  the  Greek  Church,, 
always  true  to  the  episcopal  succession,  be  taken  in  reply  ;  or  the 
Roman  Church  as  it  stood  towards  the  close  of  the  Middle  Age,, 
and  as  it  stands  still  in  entire  countries  ;  or  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land itself,  as  it  appeared  under  the  last  Stuarts  and  during  the 
eighteenth  century.  No,  we  need  something  higher  and  better 
than  anointed  lords  and  consecrated  gentlemen.  Such  aristocra- 
tic hierarchs  and  proud  bearers  of  the  apostolical  succession  pre- 
cisely, like  the  pharisees  and  highpriests  of  Judaism,  have  them- 
selves again  and  again  secularized  the  Church,  rocking  it  into 
the  sleep  of  lifeless  formalism  or  religious  indifference.  Timeo 
Danaosetdonaferentes.  Little  children,  keep  yourselves  from 
idols,  be  afraid  of  false  gods  even  under  episcopal  attire  !  It  is  the 
Spirit  that  maketh  alive  ;  the  letter  killelh. 

As  the  Puscyites,  in  this  question  of  government  and  order, 
which  they  invest  with  undue  religious  importance  both  doctrinal 
and  practical,  stand  upon  essentially  Roman  Catholic  ground,*  it 

*  The  papists,  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  appealed  in.  just  the 


127 

is  quite  natural  that  they  should  surrender  in  its  behalf  also  wha,t 
has  been  gained  in  point  of  doctrine  by  the  Reformation.  The 
points  in  vvhich  they  still  declare  their  system  to  be  different  from 
popery,  are  comparatively  subordinate  and  unimportant.  Of  the 
true  Protestant  principle  they  have  no  conception,  or  else  seek  to 
cover  it  over,  as  Newman  in  tract  No.  90  on  the  Thirty  Nine 
Articles,  with  Jesuitical  interpretation.  The  sola  fide  on  which 
the  Reformers  lived  and  died,  they  have  never  had  experience  of 
probably  in  themselves,  and  accordingly  they  let  it  go  for  a  small 
price.  The  sanctity  on  which  they  insist  appears  thus  on  closer 
examination  to  carry  rather  the  character  of  an  outward  legalism, 
an  unfree,  anxious  piety,  reminding  us  of  monkhood,  with  undue 
stress  laid  upon  the  observance  of  particular  Church  forms,  fasts 
and  self-imposed  discipline.  In  the  Lives  of  the  Saints,  as  brought 
forward  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Newman,  the  old  Jewish 
work-righteousness  presents  itself  again  in  its  full  arrogant  pa- 
rade. 

With  the  scripture  principle  it  fares  no  better,  in  the  hands  of 
these  gentlemen.  It  has  been  abandoned,  almost  from  the  start, 
for  the  Roman  dogma  of  tradition.  They  wish  to  bind  upon  our 
necks  all  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  fathers,  without  any- 
critical  sifting  by  means  of  science  or  God's  word,  even  the  ex- 
travagant and  utterly  unsound,  though  often  ingenious  allego- 
ristic  interpretations  of  the  Alexandrian  school.  Quite  a  com- 
pliment to  us  certainly,   not  simply  as  protestants  in  general,  but 


same  style  to  the  perpetua  episcoporum  successio.  Calvin  {Instit.lY.  c. 
§  2.)  answers  well  :  Primum  ab  illis  quaero,  cur  non  Africam  citent  et 
Aegyptum  et  totam  Asiam.  Nempe  quia  in  omnibus  illis  regionibus 
destit  sacra  episcoporum  successio,  cujus  beneficio  se  ecclesias  reti- 
nuisse  gloriantur.  Eo  igitur  recidunt,  se  ideo  veram  habere  ecclesiam, 
quia  ex  quo  esse  coepit,  non  fuerit  episcopis  destituta,  perpetua  enim 
serie  alios  aliis  successisse.  Sed  quid  si  Graeciam  illis  regeram  "? 
Quaero  ig-itur  iterum  ad  ipsis,  cur  apud  Graecos  periisse  ecclesiam  di- 
cant,  apud  quos  numquam  interrupta  tuit  ilia  episcoporum  successio, 
unica,  eorum  opinione,  ecclesiae  sustos  et  conservatrix.  Graecos 
faciunt  schismaticos.  Quo  jure  1  quia  a  sede  apostolica  desciscendo 
privilegium  perdiderunt.  Quid  ?  annon  multo  magis  perdere  merentur 
qui  a  Christo  ipso  deficiunt  ?  Sequitur  ergo  evanidum  esse  praetextum 
successionis,  nisi  Christi  veritatem  quam  a  patribus  per  manum  accepe- 
rint,  salvam  et  incorruptam  poster!  retineant  ac  in  eapermaneant.  Comp. 
§  3  where  he  refers  to  the  relation  of  the  prophets  to  the  bearers  of  the 
Jewish  hierarchy,  who  in  the  same  way  laid  claim  to  temple,  ceremo- 
nies and  succession,  as  all  their  own,  and  bitterly  persecuted  these  di- 
vine messengers,  the  bearers  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  so  the  true  suc- 
cesiiion. 


128 

•as  the  friends  also  of  a  sound  grammatico-historical  scrip- 
ture  exegesis  !  So,  very  recently,  the  organ  of  Puseyism  in  this 
country,  the  New  York  Churchman,  has  gone  so  far  as  to  de- 
fend in  many  respects  the  last  bull  of  his  Holiness  of  Rome 
against  Bible  Societies.  The  case  of  Mr.  Gary  too  is  well  known, 
who  was  ordained  by  bishop  Onderdonk,  though  he  had  dis- 
tinctly declared  that  he  could  subscribe  to  the  decrees  of  the 
Council  of  Trent.* 

Altogether  Puseyism  shows  itself,  in  this  way,  to  be  no  safe 
guide,  in  the  present  great  need  of  the  Church.  Its  mission  must 
be  regarded  as  preparatory  only  to  that  more  full  and  perfect  dis- 
pensation, by  which  in  the  end  the  captivity  of  Jacob  is  to  be  re- 
stored. It  has  done  much,  and  may  do  still  more,  to  bring  the 
great  problem  of  the  age  home  to  the  consciousness  of  the  Protes- 
tant world.  But  for  the  solution  of  the  problem  itself,  it  is  found 
to  be  utterly  incompetent.  It  were  to  be  wished  now  indeed,  that 
the  whole  question  might  he  wrested  out  of  such  unskilful  hands; 
since  the  truth  which  lies  at  the  ground  of  the  movement,  is  in 
danger  of  being  brought  into  general  miscredit,  at  least  for  a  time> 
by  the  false  style  in  which  it  is  here  presented. 

III.  The  true  standpoint  ;  Protestant  Catholicism  or 
Historical  Progress. 

Puseyism  then  looks  backwards  ;  v/e  look  forwards.  It  tends 
towards  Rome  ;  and  is  there  in  spirit  already  ;  even  though  it 
should  never  outwardly  complete  the  transition.  We  move  tow- 
ards Jerusalem,  the  new,  the  heavenly,  the  eternal.  Its  way  is 
turned  towards  the  fleshpots  of  Egypt,  the  old  ignominious  servi- 
tude of  the  house  of  bondage.  Ours  is  onward  to  the  land  of 
promise,  that  flows  with  milk  and  honey.  Possibly  when  it  shall 
have  reached  the  last  consequences  of  its  principle,  and  stands 
confronted  with  the  tyrannic  sceptre  beyond  the  Red  Sea,  the 
better  part  of  it  at  least  may  penitently  smite  upon  its  breast,  and 
turn  back  again  upon  its  own  way  ;  even  at  the  hazard  of  being 
doomed  to  wander  yet  forty  years  in  the  Protestant  wilderness. 
There  are  still  to  be  found  in  this  refreshing  encampments,  shady 
groves  of  palm  and  fruitful  oases,  heavenly  manna  and  quails  in 
abundance.  Before  us  still  moves  the  fiery  cloudy  pillar  of  Is- 
rael ;  at  our  side,  fresh  water  flows  from  the  rock,  at  the  bidding 

*  According  to  the  representation  of  Drs.  Smith  and  Anthon,  in 
their  Statement  of  Facts  in  relation  to  the  recent  Ordination  in  St,  Stephen's 
Church,  New  York,  1843. 


129 

of  God  ;  and  full  in  view  is  the  lifted  brazen  serpent,  the  symbol 
of  the  promised  Messiah,  to  which  every  sin  wounded  soul  may 
look  and  be  healed.  Patience  only,  under  the  weight  of  our 
weary  way  1  Canaan  must  be  reached  at  last.  No  premature 
catholicity  and  unity  factitiously  produced,  that  must  prove  after 
all  only  a  transient  mask.  The  Lord  himself  will  help  his  people, 
and  complete  the  work  of  the  Reformation,  in  due  time,  by  a  new 
and  more  glorious  creation  ;  or  conduct  it  rather  to  its  own  true 
and  triumphant  result.  The  less  we  presume  to  take  the  matter 
wilfully  into  our  own  hands,  the  more  we  wait  humbly  on  the 
leadings  of  the  divine  will,  following  step  by  step  along  the  quiet, 
true  historical  way,  the  nearer  and  more  sure  is  the  hour,  when 
he  shall  appear,  to  gather  the  disjecta  membra  ecclesiae  once 
more  together,  and  form  them  into  a  more  glorious  body  than  the 
world  has  ever  yet  beheld. 

Let  us  never  forget  that  fidelity  to  her  inherited  patrimony,  on 
the  part  of  the  Church,  is  indispensable  to  her  farther  prosperity. 
We  must  declare  against  Puseyism,  on  the  historical  or  catholic 
principle  itself.  For  genuine  Catholicism  holds  in  organic  union 
with  the  pure  history  of  the  Church,  and  through  this  with  the 
apostles,  through  them  with  Christ,  and  through  him  finally  with 
the  eternal  Father  himself,  whose  thoughts  of  love  and  peace  are 
unfolded  in  more  large  and  glorious  measure  always  with  the 
flow  of  time.  We  are  faithless  apostates,  if  we  allow  ourselves 
with  overweening  presumption.to  trample  under  foot  the  work  of 
the  Reformers.  Puseyism  occupies  extreme  ground  here,  on  two 
sides.  Towards  the  Church  fathers  it  is  slavishly  true,  taking 
upon  itself  the  yoke  of  human  bondage  ;  towards  the  Reformers 
it  is  even  to  perfidy  ungrateful.  Luther  and  Melawcthon,  Cal- 
vin and  Beza,  were  indeed  sinful  and  fallible  men,  like  ourselves. 
Of  this  ihey  had  the  most  full  consciousness  themselves,  and  have 
declared  us  free  accordingly  from  all  bondage  to  men.  We  will 
not  then  fall  into  the  error,  which  they  have  themselves  most 
sharply  reproved.  We  readily  allow  that  in  their  zeal  for  the 
purification  of  the  Church,  they  threw  away  more  than  was 
necessary  or  wholesome.  But  we  cannot  consent  to  give  up  any- 
thing material,  of  their  positive  conquest  particularly  in  the  form 
of  doctrine.  Assuredly  they  need  not  shun  a  comparison  here 
with  the  deepest,  most  intellectual  and  m.ost  pious,  among  the 
Church  fathers  and  schoolmen.  They  sought  not  their  own,  but 
the  honor  of  God.  No  human  doctrine,  but  God's  word  onlyj 
would  they  exalt  to  absolute  supremacy.  This  they  preached 
with  unshaken  boldness  and  the  most  noble  disinterestedness  ;  and 
so  when  their  hard  day's  work  was  done  died  happilv  in  the  faith 

12 


130 

of  Jesus  Christ  Crucified,  as  their  righteousness  and  salvation. 
The  Lord  has  spoken  his  yea  and  amen  upon  their  work  ;  and  the 
Church  which  sprang  from  it  still  stands  fast  in  its  strength,  in 
spite  of  the  numberless  storms  that  have  passed  over  it  from 
without,  in  spite  of  the  deadly  foes  to  which  it  is  still  exposed 
within  its  own  bosom. 

But  we  must  go  still  farther.  As  the  Puseyites  in  contradic' 
tion  to  the  Reformation  affect  to  be  catholic,  (in  the  Roman 
sense,  catholic  in  show,  particularistic  in  fact,)  so  as  a  matter  of 
course  they  are  unprepared  altogether  to  understand  or  appreciate 
the  subsequent  development  of  the  Protestant  principle.  In  the 
history  of  the  Protestant  Church  they  can  see  only  progressive 
falling  away  \  in  Rationalism  and  Sectarism,  a.  work  purely  of 
the  devil.  This  is  a  second  point  on  which  we  differ  from  them  ; 
and  where  we  come  into  collision  also  with  the  stiff  confessionists, 
the  hyperorthodox  Lutherans  of  the  old  stamp,  the  sons  of  Abra- 
ham Calovius  and  Ernest  Valentine  Loescher.  These  in- 
deed acknowledge  the  divine  character  of  the  Reformation,  at 
least  in  its  Lutheran  form,  and  in  this  respect  we  stand  on  com- 
mon ground  with  them,  against  English  and  American  Puseyism. 
But  they  will  not  allow  the  development  of  the  Church  to  extend 
beyond  this  point.  Whatever  progress  may  have  had  place  be- 
fore, all  must  be  considered  complete  with  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
sixteenth  century  ;  circumscribed  and  made  fast  in  the  narrow 
bounds  of  the  Form  of  Concord.  With  blind  misestimation  of 
the  rights  and  prerogatives  of  the  Reformed  Church,  and  of  the 
special  wants  precisely  of  our  time,  they  make  Lutheranism  to  be 
the  same  thing  with  the  ideal  or  absolute  Church  itself,  and  fall 
thus  into  an  error  as  bad  as  that  of  Rome,  to  whose  view  all  that 
lies  beyond  its  own  borders  is  but  damnable  heresy  and  schism. 
This  form  of  thinking  bears  it  is  true  the  name  of  Luther  ;  but 
with  his  boundlessly  free  spirit  it  stands  in  no  affinity  whatever  ; 
just  as  little,  we  may  say,  as  another  section  of  the  same  nominal 
interest  in  this  country,  which  has  long  since  sacrificed  the  origi- 
nal spirit  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  along  with  the  German  lan- 
guage itself,  to  the  totally  different  genius  of  Methodism.  It  is 
the  presentiment  and  earnest  hope  of  the  greatest  German  theolo- 
gians, that  we  stand  at  this  time  on  the  eve  of  a  more  comprehen- 
sive Reformation  than  that  which  is  past,  which  is  to  crown  and 
complete  the  work  of  our  fathers,  bind  together  again  what  has 
been  separated,  and  actualize  the  last  absording  wish  of  Luther 
and  Melancthon,  of  which  notice  has  already  been  taken.  Of 
course,  the  Form  of  Concord,  worthy  as  it  is  in  itself  of  all  re- 
spect, can  never  bring  us  to  any  such  result  as  this.     As  little  at 


the  same  time  however  can  we  be  helped  towards  it,  by  metho- 
distical  "New  Measures,"  the  anxious  bench  and  other  such  like 
quack  appliances  and  medicaments,  that  work  upon  the  nerves 
far  more  than  the  soul.  The  old  measures  employed  by  Christ 
and  the  apostles,  which  have  stood  the  test  of  historical  experiment 
from  the  beginning,  are  vastly  more  to  be  relied  upon.  Eighteen 
centuries  of  use  have  not  worn  away  their  edge  or  force  ;  rather 
it  is  their  invaluable  quality,  that  they  become  always  more  keen 
and  effective  the  more  frequently  they  are  applied.  With  such 
methods  moreover  we  reach  results  that  are  solid  and  radical,  in- 
stead  of  deceptive  appearances  only  that  soon  pass  away,  and 
leave  the  case  worse  too  often  than  it  was  before. 

We  condemn,  without  qualification,  both  Rationalism  and  Sec- 
tarism.  Still  our  historical  sense  itself  will  not  allow  us,  to  look 
upon  them  as  the  work  of  Satan  only.  God,  who  brings  good 
out  of  evil,  has  been  wisely  active  also  in  the  immense  system  of 
destruction,  that  has  been  going  forward  in  the  Christian  world  in 
these  forms,  since  the  beginning  of  the  last  century.  "God  writes 
on  a  crooked  line,"  says  an  old  Portuguese  proverb.  Through 
the  heathenish  larve  of  rationalist,  pantheist,  sectarian,  and  fac- 
tious irreligion,  with  which  the  age  is  marred,  we  discern  the  re- 
generated psyche  ;  in  the  process  of  corruption,  the  still  living 
germ  that  may  be  expected  to  burst  its  decaying  shell,  and  leave 
the  earth  behind,  and  grow  upwards  into  a  tree  beneath  whose 
shadow  the  world  may  rest.  Like  the  development  of  the  pa- 
pacy during  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Rationalism  and  Sectarism  of 
the  modern  Protestant  Church  also  has  its  conditional  historical 
necessity,  and  along  with  this  a  certain  justification,  an  element  of 
truth,  that  needs  to  be  incorporated  into  the  process  with  which  theol- 
ogy and  the  Church  are  to  be  still  farther  developed.  Let  us  il- 
lustrate this,  in  the  way  of  hint  at  least,  by  two  or  three  general 
observations;  though  of  a  kind,  it  is  true,  to  be  fully  intelligible 
only  to  such  as  are  thoroughly  acquainted  with  Church  history. 
The  details  of  the  subject  and  its  application  to  particulars,  may 
then  be  carried  out  by  the  intelligent  for  themselves. 

As  Catholicism  towards  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages  settled  in- 
to a  character  of  hard,  stiff  objectivity,  incompatible  with  the 
proper  freedom  of  the  individual  subject,  now  ripening  into  spirit- 
ual manhood  ;  so  Protestantism  has  been  carried  aside,  in  later 
times,  into  the  opposite  error  of  a  loose  subjectivity,  which  threat- 
ens to  subvert  all  regard  for  Church  authority.  These  extremes 
as  such  are  both  equally  false.  Both  however  involve  a  princi- 
ple that  is  true  and  divine  ;  the  falsehood  results  from  the  onesided 


132 

way  in  which  this  is  held  in  each  case.  Necessity  and  freedom, 
dependence  and  independence,  generality  and  singularity,  are  the 
two  poles,  around  which  human  existence  and  all  history  revolve. 
The  perfection  of  both  is  the  union  of  both.  The  highest  freedoni 
stands  in  the  service  of  God.  The  divine  law  is  at  the  same  time 
the  true  expression  of  particular  will,  the  only  form  of  free  inward 
power.  Genuine  obedience  towards  the  Church,  coincides  with 
the  highest  degree  of  personal  piety.  The  life  of  the  single  mem- 
ber in  the  body  and  for  the  body  as  a  whole,  constitutes  also  its 
own  most  healthy  and  vigorous  state.  Separated  from  the  body, 
it  is  given  over  at  once  to  a  process  of  dissolution. 

Rationalism  and  Seclarism  then  are  false  and  hateful,  not  sim- 
ply as  they  are  subjective  and  appertain  to  the  sphere  of  the  indi- 
vidual, but  as  they  are  onesidedly  subjective,  in  opposition  to  the 
general,  and  with  contempt  of  the  principle  of  authority,  as  em- 
bodied in  the  Church.  80  far  accordingly  as  the  just  claims  of 
the  subjective  reach,  both  may  be  said  to  have  their  vindication 
as  necessary  and  important  in  Church  history.  In  what  this 
right,  this  element  of  truth  consists,  is  now  to  be  shown. 

Rationalism  shows  its  bright  and  dark  sides  in  this,  that  it 
fixes  its  view  onesidedly  on  the  human  in  Christ,  in  Christianity 
and  in  the  Church,  the  earthly  body  only  of  their  mcarnate  divin- 
ity, and  is  so  carried  away  towards  what  is  natural  and  visible 
merely,  as  to  have  no  sense  or  perception  of  the  supernatural, 
eternal  and  divine.  Its  principle  is  the  abstract  understanding, 
which  walks  the  treadmill  of  mere  finite  categories  and  contra- 
dictions, without  coming  ever  to  the  last  ground  and  inmost  unity 
of  its  subject.  So  far  however  as  Christianity  and  the  Church 
fall  within  the  finite,  earthly  sphere  of  man's  existence.  Rational- 
ism also  must  be  considered  in  place,  and  not  without  its  merits. 
It  has  served  to  overthrow  many  false  prejudices,  and  has  made 
many  contributions  of  permanent  worth  to  history  and  criticism. 
But  besides  this,  its  influence  has  been  salutary,  in  a  certain 
sense,  on  the  whole  tone  and  spirit  of  the  later  evangelical  Ger- 
man theology.  Only  ignorance  or  prejudice  can  deny,  that  the 
older  orthodoxy,  including  its  first  protestant  form  also,  made  too 
little  account  of  the  conditions  under  which  only  the  revelation  of 
our  religion  in  the  way  of  history  could  take  place.  Hence,  for 
instance,  its  resort  to  unsound  and  extravagant  allegory,  and  its 
fairly  magical  conception  of  inspiration,  overlooking  entirely  the 
human  individuality  of  the  sacred  writers,  which  notwithstan.ding 
stores  us  in  the  face  in  every  single  book.  In  this  respect,  the 
scientific  Rationalism  of  Germany,  by  bringing  in  a  severe  critic 
cism  and  grammatico- historical  exegesis,  which  form  the  natural 


133 

ground  and  necessary  condition  of  all  theological  knowledge  of 
the  bible,  has  wrought  clearly  with  purifying  power  in  the  Church, 
the  traces  of  which  are  not  to  be  mistaken  in  the  most  orthodox 
works  of  the  modern  evangelical  schoo!.  The  old  faith  has  sus- 
tained in  this  way  no  loss.  It  remains  essentially  the  same.  It 
has  come  forth  from  this  critical  fire,  improved  only  in  its  form 
and  argument,  and  cleared  of  all  sorts  of  dross.  It  has  lost  noth- 
ingj  in  living  power,  inwardness  and  depth,  whilst  it  has  gained 
in  freedom  and  solid  scientific  strength.  We  must  not  refer  Ra- 
tionalism to  sheer  ungodliness  as  its  source,  but  are  bound  to  ac- 
knowledge in  it  also  a  scientific  conscience  which  the  old  ortho- 
doxy, though  with  the  best  intention,  too  often  wounded  in  the 
most  sensible  manner.  The  latest  speculative  Rationalism  has 
this  merit  besides,  that  it  has  helped  to  destroy  the  common  Ra- 
tionalism with  which  it  was  preceded  ;  as  Strauss,  for  instance, 
in  his  Life  of  Jesus^  has  exposed  with  great  acuteness  the  unna- 
turalness  of  the  so  called  natural  explanation  of  miracles,  as  con- 
ducted by  Paulus  of  Heidelberg  ;  and  the  fornier  style  of  attack 
also  against  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity  and  the  divine  incarnation, 
has  been  long  since  shorn  of  its  force  by  the  Hegelian  specula- 
tion. It  must  be  admitted  however,  that  the  most  recent  produc- 
tions of  this  speculative  Rationalism  fall  back  again  rather  to  the 
old  trivial  and  popular,  scientifically  surmounted  standpoint,  so 
that  the  system  is  involved  thus  in  self-condemnation. 

But  readily  as  we  allow,  that  we  are  indebted  to  this  transitioot 
phase  of  theology  generally  considered,  for  an  understanding  in 
part  of  history  and  the  natural  side  of  Christianity,  we  must  still 
maintain  that  this  understanding  can  become  true  and  complete, 
only  where  with  the  good  side  of  the  tendency  in  question,  there 
is  found  united  the  determined  faith  of  the  old  orthodoxy.  For 
the  body  is  the  product  of  the  soul,  which  it  forms  as  an  organ 
for  its  own  use.  It  is  the  eternal  Word,  which  has  become  flesh 
in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  and 
in  the  Church.  He  then  who  has  the  flesh  only  without  the' 
word,  the  body  without  the  spirit,  has  in  the  end  no  more- 
than  a  corpse. 

As  it  regards  Sectarismy  in-  the  second  place,  it  must  also  be 
allowed  that  it  almost  always  has  its  ground  in  certain  practical 
defects  of  the  Church,  as  that  of  Rationalism  holds  in  the  flaws 
and  infirmities  of  the  orthodox  theology,  and  in  this  direction  is 
not  without  right.  Thus  Quakerism  appeared  in  opposition  to  the 
outward  mechanism  and  dead  formality,  that  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeentb 

12* 


13-4 

century.  Anabaptism  finds  its  apology  in  the  melancholy  faci;. 
that  many  baptized  persons  in  the  Church  live  like  heathen,  the 
consequence  in  a  great  measure  of  the  want  of  proper  Christian 
education.  Modern  Methodism,  in  its  various  forms,  has  its  well 
grounded  complaints  to  present,  against  a  dead  Church  ortho- 
doxy, which  is  found  too  often  along  with  unsound  life  rejecting 
all  life,  along  with  protracted  prayer-meetings  all  serious  prayer, 
and  along  with  wild  fanatical  awakenings  conversion  in  every 
form,  making  thus  no  distinction  in  its  zeal.  In  almost  every 
sect  we  may  find  some  particular  side  of  the  Christian  life  clearly 
and  strongly  marked  ;  where  as  in  a  mirror  the  Church  should 
see  her  own  defects,  the  wrinkles  or  spots  that  mar  her  visage,  so 
as  to  do  penance  for  her  unfaithfulness,  by  which  so  many  of  her 
best  members  have  been  led  to  forsake  her  communion*  The 
divine  significance  of  sects  then,  their  value  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  consists  in  this,  that  they  are  a  disciplinary  scourge,  a. 
voice  of  awakening  and  admonition,  by  which  the  Church  is 
urged  to  new  life  and  a  more  conscientious  discharge  of  her  duties. 
The  system  has  a  favorable  operation  farther,  as  it  tends  to 
spread  religious  interest  and  stimulate  Christian  zeal.  In  this 
country  perhaps,  if  there  were  no  sects,  we  should  not  have 
half  as  many  congregations  and  houses  of  worship  as  we  have 
now,  and  many  sections  in  the  west  particularly  would  be  desti- 
tute of  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  altogether. 

But  v/hile  this  is  thankfully  admitted,  two  things  still  need  to 
be  kept  in  view.  A  sect,  in  the  first  place,  loses  its  right  to  exist, 
in  the  same  degree  in  which  the  body  from  which  it  is  a  secession, 
has  corrected  the  faults  that  led  to  it.  If  it  persist  in  its  separa- 
tion notwithstanding,  it  is  either  carried  into  full  unbelief,  or  sinks 
into  a  slavish  observance  of  particular  lifeless  forms,  preparing 
in  this  way  its  own  grave,  as  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  many 
|j*-cases  in  Church  history.  Then  again,  a  sect  as  such,  can  never, 
*  in  its  subjective  isolation,  provide  successfully  even  for  the  partic- 
ular interest  to  which  it  is  pedantically  devoted  ;  since  every 
single  religious  truth  belongs  to  a  great  organically  constituted 
whole,  and  can.  become  complete  accordingly  only  in  connection 
with  this  as  the  source  of  all  its  life.  Christianity  is  an  indivisi- 
ble unity  ;  its  truths  are  links  only  of  an  indissoluble  chain  re- 
turning into  itself.  Here  exactly  we  may  see  the  spiritual  pride 
and  narrow-mindedness  of  sectarism,  that  it  fancies  it  can  pros- 
per and  reach  perfection,  standing  on  its  own  frail  feet,  in  ab- 
stract separation  from  the  general  life  of  the  Church.  Break  a 
branch  from  the  vine,  and  it  must  soon  wither.  Separate  a  ray 
from  the  sun,   and  it  is  extinguished.     Remove  a  child  from  the 


13^ 

sare  ofparents  and  guardians,  and  it  will  grow  wild.  Cut  a  hand 
from  the  body,  and  it  will  fall  into  decay.  If  sects  then  would  be 
trve  to  themselves,  they  must  as  soon  as  they  have  fnljilled  their 
commission  unite  themselves  again  with  the  general  life  of  the 
Church,  that  they  may  thus  as  organic  rnembers  of  the  body  ac- 
quire new  vital  energy  ;  and  the  Church,  on  her  side,  should 
make  special  efforts  to  gather  once  more  under  her  motherly  pro- 
tection and  care,  the  children  that  have  forsaken  her  and  are 
now  estranged  from  her  bosom.  To  this  duty  the  Reformed 
Church  is  specially  called,  as  the  largest  part  of  these  modern 
separatistic  movements  have  sprung  from  her  communion. 

We  must  now  quit  for  a  moment  the  field  of  theology  and  the 
Church,  in  the  narrower  sense,  and  cast  a  glance  on  the  develop- 
ment of  Protestantism,  in  its  relation  as  a  vast  whole  to  the  general 
course  of  the  world's  history  ;  that  we  may  discover  how  far 
there  is  included  in  it  in  this  view  also,  the  promise  of  a  new, 
glorious  future.  We  shall  then  be  prepared  to  bring  all  together 
in  a  general  image. 

To  the  Lord  and  his  kingdom  belongs  the  whole  world,  with 
all  that  lives  and  moves  in  it.  All  is  yours,  says  the  apostle. 
Religion  is  not  a  single,  separate  sphere  of  human  life,  but  the 
divine  principle  by  which  the  entire  man  is  to  be  pervaded,  retined 
and  made  complete.  It  takes  hold  of  him  in  his  undivided  total- 
ity, in  the  centre  of  his  personal  being  ;  to  carry  light  into  his 
understanding,  holiness  into  his  will,  and  heaven  intoliis  heart  ;. 
and  to  shed  thus  the  sacred  consecration  of  the  new  birth,  and  of 
the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God,  over  his  whole  inward 
and  outward  life.  No  form  of  existence  can  withstand  the  reno- 
vating power  of  God's  Spirit.  There  is  no  rational  element  that 
may  not  be  sanctified  ;  no  sphere  of  natural  life  that  may  not  be 
glorified.  The  creature,  in  the  widest  extent  of  the  word,  is 
earnestly  waiting  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  and 
sighing  after  the  same  glorious  deliverance.  The  whole  crea- 
tion aims  towards  redemption  ;  and  Christ  is  the  second  Adam, 
the  new  universal  man,  not  simply  in  a  religious  but  also  in  an 
absolute  sense.  The  view  entertained  by  Romish  monasticism 
and  Protestant  pietism,  by  which  Christianity  is  made  to  consist 
in  an  abstract  opposition  to  the  natural  life,  or  inflight  from  the 
world,  is  quite  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  power  of  tlie  gospel,  as 
well  as  false  to  its  design.  Christianity  is  the  redemption  and 
renovation  of  the  world.     It  must  make  all  things  new. 

Such  morbid  views  are  powerfully  counteracted  in  this  country, 
by  the  sound  practical   feeling  which   so  generally  prevails.     A 


136 

different  mistake  however,  nearly  as  false,  is  widely  established 
according  to  which  science,  art  aad  politics,  are  placed  in  a  rela- 
tion, not  of  absolute  hostility  indeed,  but  of  entire  indifference  to- 
religion,  that  is  properly  in  no  relation  to  it  at  all.  The  idea 
seems  to  be,  that  a  man's  piety  is  deposited  in  one  corner  of  his 
spirit,  his  politics  in  another,  and  his  learning  in  a  third.  All 
good  and  necessary  in  their  place,  but  having  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  one  another  !  According  to  this  view,  it  might  seem  to 
be  expected  farther  that  religion  should  never  come  into  any  do- 
ser  union  with  the  common  secular  departments  of  life.  It  must 
be  counted  pernicious,  if  the  Church  should  be  drawn  into  nearer 
contact  with  the  State,  or  art  be  made  more  extensively  subser^ 
vient  to  divine  worship,  if  Christian  morality  should  seek  to  occupy 
all  social  relations,  or  Christian  theology  presume  to  incorporate 
with  itself  the  results  of  worldly  science,  philosophy  in  partic- 
ular. 

It  were  a  vast  object  gained  for  the  interests  of  American  Pro- 
testantism, if  this  radically  false  and  miserably  narrow  prejudice,, 
opposed  as  it  is  to  all  true  and  proper  progress  on  the  part  of  the 
Church,  could  be  effectually  subverted.  The  theme  is  indeed  one 
of  the  very  highest  consequence.  It  enters  into  the  inmost  life  of 
the  time,  and  includes  in  itself  the  most  momentous  questions  with 
which  the  time  is  concerned.  The  following  historical  ^hints, 
which  we  are  not  permitted  here  farther  to  pursue,  may  serve 
possibly,  in  some  measure  at  least,  to  direct  attention  to  the 
subject. 

We  set  out  then  with  the  assumption,  that  Christianity  stands 
in  an  absolutely  negative,  hostile  relation  only  to  sin  and  death, 
while  all  that  is  properly  human,  the  world  with  its  several 
spheres,  government,  science,  art,  and  social  life,  is  regarded  by 
it  as  of  divine  institution  and  force  ;  which  religion  is  required  ac- 
cordingly neither  to  annihilate  nor  yet  to  overlook  as  foreign  to 
its  nature,  but  on  the  contrary  to  occupy  and  fill  with  its  own 
heavenly  spirit.  This  itself  serves  to  show,  the  universal  charac- 
ter of  the  gospel,  and  the  catholicity  of  the  Church.  It  follows  of 
course,  that  no  one  of  these  spheres  of  natural  life  can  reach  its 
highest  stage,  its  true  perfection,  until  it  has  come  to  be  thorough- 
ly transfused  with  the  leaven  of  Christianity.  In  the  absolute 
view  of  the  case  therefore,  there  can  be  no  perfect  scholar  or  philos- 
opher, no  perfect  ideal  artist,  whether  architect,  or  sculptor,  or 
painter,  or  musician,  or  poet,  no  perfect  statesman,  and  finally  no 
truly  moral  man,  who  is  not  at  the  same  time  animated  through- 
out with  the  living  power  of  faith.  It  follows  again  with  equal 
necessity  from  the  same  view,,  that  the  Church  cannot  be  said  to 


137 

have  completed  its  career,  till  the  whole  world  shall  appear  trans- 
figured with  its  divine  spirit,  and  states,  and  sciences,  and  arts, 
with  all  their  glory,  shall  fall  down  before  the  altar  of  the  Most 
High  in  full,  free  worship. 

Let  us  now  apply  this  standard  to  history  ;  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  according  to  it  the  lelation  between  Catholicism  and 
Protestantism,  in  the  direction  here  noticed,  and  also  the  pro- 
per wants  of  our  own  time  so  far  as  the  same  view  is  con- 
cerned, 

Catholicism,  particularly  in  its  mediaeval  Romano-Germanic 
period,  carried  with  it,  if  we  put  out  of  view  its  monastic  institu- 
tions, a  very  distinct  sense  of  the  nihil  humani  a  me  alienum  puto 
as  just  described.     It  is   this  precisely  which  renders  the  Middle 
Ages  so  grand  and  venerable,  that  religion  in  this  period  appears 
the  all  moving,  all  ruling  force,  the  centre  around  which  all  moral 
struggles  and  triumphs,  all  thought,  poetry  and  action,  are  found 
to  revolve.     All  sciences,  and  philosophy  itself,  the  science  of  the 
sciences,  were  handmaids  to  theology,  which  based  itself  on  the 
principle  of  Augustine,  Fides  praecedit  intellecium.     Before  the 
pope,  as  the  head  and  representative   of  Christendom,    all   states 
bowed  themselves  with  reverent  homage  ;  and  even  the  German 
emperor  himselfcould  not  feel  secure  in  his  place,  save  as  fornn- 
ally  acknowledged  by  the  chief  bishop  of  the  Church.     Princes 
and  people  arose   at   his   bidding,   forsook  country  and  friends, 
submitted  to  the  most  severe  privations,  to  kneel  at  the  Savior's 
tomb  and  water  it  with  thankful  tears.     According  to  the  reign- 
ing idea,  the  State  stood  related  to   the  Church  like  the  moon  to 
the  sun,  from    which   it   borrows  all  its  light.     All  forms  of  life, 
all  national  manners,  were  suffused  with  magic  interest  from  the 
unseen    world.     The   holy  sacraments    ran   like  threads  of  gold 
through  the  whole  texture  of  life,  in  all  its  relations,  from  infancy 
to  old  age.     The  different  arts  vied  with  each  other,  in  the  service 
of  the  Church.     The  most  magnificent  and  beautiful  buildings  of 
the  period,    are  the  cathedrals  ;  those  giant  stone  flowers,  with 
their  countless   turrets,   storming  the  heavens  and  bearing  the 
soul  on  high,  and  their  mysterious  devotional    gloom,  visited  nev- 
er by    the   light  of  the  natural  day,  but  only  by  mystic  irradia- 
tions poured  through  stained  glass  ;  domes,  the  authors  of  which 
stood  so  completely  in  the  general  life  of  the  Church,  and  were  so 
occupied  only  with    the  honor  of  God  in  their  work,  that  with  a 
divine  carelessness  they  have  left  even  their  own  names  to  perish 
in  oblivion.     The  maxim  was.  Let  the  best  house  belong  to  the 
Lord.     The  richest  paintings  were  madonnas  and  images  of  the 
saints,  as  produced  by  a  Fra  Beato  Angelico  da  Fiesole,  a, 


138 

Fra  Bartolomeo,  a  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  a  Perugino,  a 
Raphael,  and  a  Michael  Angelo.  It  was  felt,  that  the  fairest 
among  the  sons  of  men,  and  the  connections  in  which  he  stood, 
must  furnish  the  most  worthy  material  for  the  pencil.  The  most 
lofty  and  impressive  music,  according  to  Old  Testament  example, 
resounded  in  the  public  worship  of  God.  Poetry  sang  her  deep- 
est and  most  tender  strains  to  the  Lord  and  his  bride  ;  and  the 
greatest  poet  of  the  Middle  Ages,  Dante,  has  left  behind  him  in 
his  "Divine  Comedy"  an  image  simply  of  the  religious  spirit  and 
theological  wisdom  of  the  age,  as  occupied  with  eternity  itself 
and  all  its  dread  realities.  Truly  a  great  time,  and  for  one  who 
is  prepared  to  understand  it,  fraught  with  the  richest  spiritual  in- 
terest. He  that  has  no  heart  for  the  excellencies  of  this  period, 
the  beauty  that  belongs  to  the  Middle  Ages,  must  be  wanting 
in  genuine  culture,  or  at  least  in  all  right  historical  feeling. 

The  true  Church  historian  leaves  to  every  age  its  own  peculiar 
advantages,  without  concern.  He  presumes  not  with  narrow 
prejudice  to  reduce  all  to  one  measure,  but  recognises  with  joyful 
satisfaction,  under  the  most  different  forms,  wherever  found,  the 
footsteps  of  the  Lord,  the  presence  of  his  Spirit,  as  secured  to  the 
Church  by  his  own  promise  through  all  ages.  He  does  not  con- 
struct  histor}^,  after  the  measure  of  some  poor  conceptions  of  his 
own  ;  he  does  not  correct  it  by  the  standard  of  the  time  in  which, 
he  himself  lives  ;  but  he  takes  it  up  and  reproduces  it,  as  God 
has  allowed  it  to  occur,  in  the  progressive  explication  of  his  plan 
of  redemption,  which  apparent  obstructions  even,  yea  the  rage  of 
diabolic  passion  itself,  must  only  help  forward  in  the  end.  How- 
ever firmly  settled  he  may  be  for  himself  in  a  particular  stand- 
point, he  thinks  not  of  circumscribing  the  boundless  fulness  of 
the  divine  life  by  the  narrow  horizon  of  his  own  view.  With  all 
his  respect  for  the  Reformation  as  a  true  work  of  God,  he  is  not 
rendered  insensible  by  it  to  what  was  excellent  and  beautiful  in 
earlier  times,  in  which  also  men  oi  immortal  name  lived  and  work- 
ed and  suffered,  and  when  also  God  made  his  presence  gloriously- 
felt,  and  kept  watch  over  the  Church  continually  with  the  eye  of 
his  love. 

That  must  be  regarded  certainly  as  a  most  unwise  policy,  by 
which  Protestants  for  a  long  time  allowed  themselves  to  renounce 
all  interest  in  this  period,  and  resign  its  treasures  wholly  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  as  though  nothing  but  darkness  and  barbarism 
belonged  to  its  history.  The  error  indeed  is  still  widely  preva- 
lent in  this  country — for  the  most  part  however,  a  sin  of  profound 
ignorance — so  that  the  stereotype  title  for  that  period  is  simply. 
The  Dark  Ages  !  O,  thou  light  of  the  Nineteenth  century  !  How 


139 

hasl  thou  tarried  with  thy  rising,  hiding  thyself  for  a  thousand 
years  behind  the  clouds,  in  cowardly  fear  of  those  dying  men,  the 
popes  !  Come  now,  ye  poor  unfortunate  children  of  darkness,  ye 
Legs  and  Gregorys,  ye  emperors  of  the  house  of  Saxony  and 
the  HoHENSTAUFEN,  Anselm,  and  Thomas  Aquinas,  Bona  Ven- 
tura, and  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  Dante  Alighieri  and 
Petrarch,  Erwin  of  Steinbach  and  Bramante,  Leonardo 
DA  Vinci  and  Raphael,  Francis  of  Assisi  and  Thomas  a 
Kempis  ;  come  forth  from  your  graves,  and  be  illuminated  by  the 
light  that  now  reigns  ;  learn  how  to  govern  Church  and  State, 
from  our  synods,  consistories,  and  advocates  ;  study  philosophy 
and  theology  at  Andover  and  New-Haven  ;  practise  poetry, 
Church  building,  and  painting,  amid  the  encouragement  that  is 
given  to  the  arts  in  practical,  money  loving  America  ;  and  take 
lessons  of  piety  from  the  "camp  meetings"  of  the  Albright  Breth- 
ren, and  sects  of  the  same  spirit.  But  they  have  no  desire  to 
come  back,  the  mighty  dead  !  With  a  compassionate  smile,  they 
point  our  dwarfish  race  to  their  own  imperishable  giant  works, 
and  exclaim,  Be  humble,  and  learn  that  nothing  beseems  you  so 
well. 

In  Germany  this  foolish  prejudice,  God  be  praised,  has  been 
happily  surmounted,  since  through  Herder  and  Wieland,  and 
still  more  by  the  Romantic  school,  particularly  Tieck,  Novalis, 
and  the  two  Schlegels,  the  poetic  wealth  of  the  Middle  Ages  has 
been  brought  to  view  ;  their  significance  in  the  general  history  of 
the  world,  by  Moser,  John  von  Mueller,  and  Leo  ;  their  uni- 
versal human  interest,  by  Goethe  in  his  Faust  and  Goetz  von 
Berlichingen  ;  and  finally  their  ecclesiastical  magnificence  and 
theological  depth,  as  well  scholastic  as  mystical,  by  the  later  works 
on  Church  history  and  the  development  of  doctrines,  and  in  partic- 
ular also  by  various  monographs  on  Innocent  III.,  Hugo  of 
St.  Victor,  Anselm  of  Canterbury,  Bernard  of  Clairvaux, 
Henry  Suso,  Tauler,  Savonarola,  John  Wessel,  and  others. 
It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  Middle  Ages  after  all  are  the 
cradle  of  the  Reformation.  They  exhibit  to  us,  not  simply  the 
Roman,  but  the  Romano-Germanic  Catholicism,  in  whose  arms 
the  Reformation  is  borne  like  the  infant  Christ  by  the  madonnas 
of  Raphael.  True,  the  madonna  appears  in  the  foreground,  after 
the  Romish  style.  But  still  the  highest  beauty  of  the  virgin  moth- 
er, surrounding  her  with  the  loveliness  of  heaven  itself,  flows 
mainly  from  the  adoring,  blissful  gaze  with  which  she  is  absorbed 
in  the  divine  child,  that  smiles  and  plays  upon  her  bosom,  and 
yet  bears  the  world  upon  its  hand.  So  too  the  Middle  Ages  have 
their  richest  charm,  in  the  longing  and  earnest  expectation  with 


which  they  look  forward  to  the  Reformation,  as  the  ripe  fruit  of 
the  previous  struggles  of  the  Church,  the  strong  and  joyous 
child  of  her  deep  birth-pangs  endured  for  long  centuries  before. 

Even  now  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which  since  the  six- 
teenth century  lives  almost  entirely  of  her  past  greatness,  retains 
much  of  the  character  under  consideration,  though  no  longer  the 
mistress  of  the  world.  She  embraces  all  spheres  of  human  life, 
attends  it  through  all  its  stations  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
pervades  all  conditions  with  her  spirit,  anoints  all  occupations 
with  her  consecrating  oil,  and  in  this  way  exercises  a  much 
greater  power  than^Protestantism  over  the  consciences  and  spirits 
of  those  who  stand  in  her  communion.  In  the  midst  of  the  visible 
world,  remembrancers  of  the  world  unseen  meet  us  on  all  sides, 
in  crosses,  churches,  images  of  saints,  relics,  and  expressive 
symbols  of  every  kind.  True  we  encounter  in  the  same  quarter 
also,  all  sorts  of  superstition,  error  and  abuse.  These  it  is  an 
easy  thing  to  assault  with  rude  hand,  and  anathematize  incon- 
tinently as  the  work  of  the  devil.  Instead  of  this  however  it 
might  be  well  if  more  pains  were  taken  to  fathom  and  bring  home 
to  ourselves,  (as  could  be  done  with  great  profit  and  no  great  dif- 
ficulty, where  proper  knowledge  and  ieeling  were  combined  in  the 
inquiry,)  the  original  truth,  and  the  deep  religious  want,  that  lie 
at  the  ground  of  almost  every  abuse  and  error,  and  impart  to  it 
its  tough  life.  "Prove  all  things,  and  hold  fast  that  which  is 
good." 

Notwithstanding  all  now  said  however,  one  radical  fault  charac- 
terizes the  relation  of  the  Roman  Church  to  the  world.  She  does 
not  sufficiently  respect  the  world  in  its  own  divine  rights,  and 
seeks  to  subject  it  to  herself  in  a  violent,  unnatural,  premature 
way,  without  regard  to  the  measure  of  her  own  development.  In- 
stead of  waiting  humbly,  and  following  the  course  of  tribulation 
prescribed  by  Christ,  she  would  anticipate  in  a  fleshly  way  the 
ideal  state,  when  "the  kingdom  and  dominion,  and  the  greatness 
of  the  kingdom  under  the  whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the 
people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  whose  kingdom  is  an  ever- 
lasting kingdom"  (Daniell  :  27.),  and  when  it  shall  be  said,  that 
"salvation,  and  strength,  and  the  kingdom  of  our  God,  and  the 
power  of  his  Christ  is  come''  (Rev.  12  :  10.).  Thus  the  heathen 
mythologies  also  were  a  fleshly  prolcpsis  of  the  mystery  of  the 
incarnation.*     The  papacy  in  the  Middle  Ages  conducted  itself 


*  A  similar  thought  is  uttered  also  by  J.  P.  Lange,  {Vermischte 
(ScAnJ/en,  Vol.  IV.  p.  84,)  when  he  says  in  his  striking  way:  "The 
characteristic  fault  of  the  papacy  is  the  show  it  makes  of  a  perfect 


141 

tyfatinicaliy  towards  the  Slate,  and  trampled  on  the  rights  of  the 
nations  ;  it  permitted  not  science  and  inquiry  to  take  their  own 
course  in  a  free  way  ;  it  surrounded  the  arts  with  arbitrary 
bounds  ;  in  a  word,  it  affected  to  swallow  up  the  world  at  once  in 
a  wholesale  way.  The  world  however,  thus  overwhelmed  but 
not  assimilated  to  the  true  life  of  the  Church,  has  re-asserted  its 
rights  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church  itself,  and  taken  revenge  upon 
it  by  impressing  this  with  its  own  character,  especially  at  the 
papal  court.  Romanism  forms  accordingly  a  secular  state,  at 
the  expense  of  the  free,  quietly  advancing,  inward  character  of 
Christianity.  Its  worship  has  an  outwardly  pom})ous  complexion  ; 
•fillmg  the  senses  ;  half  heathenish.  Even  in  doctrine,  this  re- 
markable dialectic  process  may  be  seen  ;  particularly  in  the  dog- 
ma of  transubstantiation  ;  according  lo  which,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  divine  is  revealed  only  through  the  annihilation  of  the  natural 
substances,  bread  and  wine,  here  representing  the  world,  and  this 
in  virtue  of  the  consecration  of  the  priest,  of  course  the  act  of  a 
mere  creature  ;  while  however,  on  the  other  hand,  these  trans- 
muted elements,  retaining  still  in  fact  their  natural  character,  are 
made  the  object  of  divine  worship,  by  which  means  a  paganizing 
creature  deification  comes  to  prevail.  Thus  we  find  explained  the 
seemingly  inexplicable  contradiction  of  the  system,  its  contempt 
for  the  world  in  one  direction  and  its  undue  regard  for  it  in  anoth- 
er. Monkish  austerity  and  pelagian  secularity  dwell  harmo- 
niously together  in  the  same  cell. 

The  powers  of  the  world,  under  the  legal  discipline  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  became  gradually  mature.  The  Church  however, 
refusing  to  distinguish  between  different  periods  of  life,  and  un- 
willing to  put  away  the  rod  at  the  proper  time,  paid  no  respect  to 
the  change.  The  world  then  avenged  itself  on  a  large  scale,  by 
breaking  away  from  the  Church  entirely,  and  entering  upon  a 
new  course  of  development  for  itself.  This  took  place  with  the 
Reformation.  It  is  accordingly  in  this  respect  also  a  process  of 
emancipation  ;  but  as  such  here  too  not  yet  complete ;  requiring 
still  a  closing  act,  to  unite  once  more  what  has  been  disjoined. 

Christianity.  In  popery,  the  Christian  world-renovation  is  exhibited 
in  a  premature,  hypocritical,  violent  way — exhibited  a  tout  prix.  All 
that  is  human  is  sacrificed,  all  truth,  all  reality,  development  itself,  to 
secure  this  dazzling  show  of  Christian  perfection.  Popery  is  thus  the 
impatience  of  shallow,  unsound  Christian  feeling,  that  cannot  wait 
quietly  for  the  end  of  the  world,  and  so  will  have  it  before  its  time  ; 
through  impatience  settled,  and  by  its  settled  character  again  impatient^ 
All  IS- forced  ;  that  which  is  a  process  must  appear  throughout  an  issue^ 
(das  Werden  ein  Gewordenes,)  though  the  truth  itself  even  should  be 
lost,  yea  openly  resisted,  to  secure  the  point. 

13 


142 

The  world  since  the  sixteenth  century,  has  reached  a  measure 
of  cullivation,  such  as  it  never  possessed  before.  The  Protes° 
tant  States  are  incomparably  superior  to  those,  which  have  been 
or  are  now  under  the  staff  of  the  Roman  bishop  ;  showing  alto- 
gether more  order,  obedience  and  contentment  ;  whereas  the  pope 
has  often  enough  preached  insurrection  against  the  temporal 
powers,  released  subjects  from  their  oath  of  allegiance,  and  favor- 
ed and  sanctioned  state  conspiracy  and  the  murder  of  kings.  In 
place  however  of  the  former  slavish  dependence  on  the  Church, 
the  opposite  extreme  has  come  to  prevail.  The  Protestant  States 
have  either  separated  ^themselves  entirely  from  the  Church,  (at 
least  this  is  the  case  with  our  own),  or  in  contradiction  to  the 
principles  of  the  Reformation  have  subjected  it  more  or  less  to 
their  dominion,  as  in  Germany,  England,  and  Switzerland,  so 
that  out  of  Church  states  have  arisen  state  Churches.  For  in 
these  countries,  the  governments  have  taken  the  supreme  adminis- 
tration of  the  Church  into  their  own  hands,  and  thus  in  practice 
at  least  make  Caesar  to  be  pope,  which  is  no  whit  better  than 
making  the  pope  to  be  Caesar.  It  is  true  indeed,  that  in  a  num- 
ber of  States  the  freedom  of  the  Romish  Church  too  is  restrained 
by  the  secular  authority,  as  in  Austria,  and  still  more  latterly  in 
Russia,  Spain  and  Portugal.  With  inflexible  consistency  how- 
ever, she  steadily  protests  against  every  such  invasion,  and  al- 
ways contrives  in  the  end  to  make  good  again  her  pretensions; 
as  is  strikingly  shown  by  the  noted  affair  of  Cologne,  and  recent 
events  in  Spain,  as  well  as  by  the  controversy  on  the  subject  of 
Church  instruction  in  France. 

Protestant  science,  philosophy  in  particular,  is  so  far  from  be- 
ing the  mere  handmaid  of  theology  and  the  Church,  that  it  ap- 
pears just  as  often  at  least  arrayed  against  them.  Above  all  in 
Germany,  philosophy  is  regarded  commonly  as  the  all  compre- 
hending, absolute  science  of  reason  itself,  of  which  theology  is 
only  a  single  branch.  We  cannot  hesitate  a  moment  to  bestow 
the  title  Christian  on  the  scholastic  philosophers  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  an  Anselm,  a  Peter  Lombard,  or  a  Thomas  Auuinas  ; 
but  there  is  no  room  for  this,  in  the  strict  sense,  in  the  case  of 
Locke,  IIusie,  Wolf,  Kant,  Fichte,  &c.,  if  for  no  other  rea- 
son, for  this  alone  that  they  show  themselves  destitute  of  humility 
and  penitence,  which  are  the  ground  of  all  piety.  On  the 
other  hand  however,  considered  in  the  way  of  pure  science  only, 
the  modern  systems,  internally  united  like  the  links  of  a  chain 
from  Leibnitz  down,  (a  view  to  be  sure  but  dimly  apparent  in 
this  country,  where  the  empiricism  of  Locke  still  sways  its  des- 
potic sceptre  over  the  most  republican  spirits,)  exhibit  a  vastness, 


143 

^epth  and  comprehensive  variety,  tliat  find  no  parallel  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  whose  only  approved  philosophy,  indeed  may 
be  said  to  be  the  scholastic  Aristotelian.  The  advantage  of  all 
this  lo  the  Protestant  theology  is  at  least  so  much,  that  it  has  be- 
come more  scientific. 

A  like  aspect  of  things  is  presented  to  us,  in  the  sphere  of  the 
Arts  and  Polite  Literature.  These  too,  since  the  Reformation, 
have  emancipated  themselves  more  or  less  from  the  Church.  If 
we  except  our  sacred  hymns  and  chorals,  in  the  case  of  which 
certainly  a  wonderful  productivity  has  rappeartd  in  the  German 
Church,  the  Lutheran  especially  during  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries,  we  possess  almost  no  v/orks  of  Church  art  that 
are  fairly  entitled  to  the  name.  All  artistic  ornament  has  been 
banished  from  the  Churches  on  principle  ;  and  our  modern 
structures  bear  more  resemblance  often  to  a  theatre,  or  a  Grecian 
temple,  than  to  the  true  idea  of  a.  Christian  house  of  worship. 
Thorwaldsen  has  indeed  formed  statues  also  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles ;  but  they  are  by  no  means  equal  to  his  mythological  rep- 
resentations. The  painters  since  the  Reformation,  until  very 
recently  the  Duesseldorf  school,  Overbeck,  Cornelius,  Kaul- 
BACH,  (in  his  Destruction  of  Jerusalem,)  and  other  masters,,  part- 
ly catholic  and  ^^partly  protestant,  began  to  bring  in  a  change 
again,  have  had  recourse  to  the  kingdom  of  nature  and  to  profane 
history  for  their  subjects,  rather  than  to  the  bible  and  the  Church. 
So  the  Dutch  painters  in  particular.  The  greatest  modern  comr 
posers,  even  such  as  are  catholic,  as  Mozart,  Beethoven,  and 
the  Italian  school,  are  not  certainly  to  be  counted  Church  artists 
in  the  strict  sense.  The  prayers  and  priest  choirs  of  the  Magie 
Flute  and  the  Nemesis  in  Don  Juan,  as  well  as  the  Requiem, 
show  only  that  the  modern  world  is  impregnated  with  Christian 
ideas  and  feelings,  without  surrendering  still  its  natural  charac- 
ter ;  and  of  Beethoven's  incomparable  symphonies  it  has  been 
strikingly  observed  by  one  fully  at  home  in  the  subject,  that  they 
are  so  many  monologues  of  the  absolute  "Me"  of  the  present  age, 
that  with  desperate  struggle  to  stand  upon  itself,  sinks  into  im- 
measurable grief  and  braves  it  again  with  saucy  humor,  bringing 
as  it  were  all  its  resources  together  to  sustain  itself  in  the  arduous 
task.  Our  poets  of  the  first  rank,  (among  whom  we  cannot 
reckon  the  pious  but  tedious  singers  Milton  and  Klopstock,) 
take  them  altogether,  are  forms  that  spring  from  nature  only. 
Shakespeare  belongs  rather  of  right  to  the  Middle  Period,  whose 
traditions  have  supplied  him  with  almost  all  his  poetic  material. 
He  is  in  a  certain  sense  the  completion  of  Dante,  in  whom  is 
mirrored  the  religious  glory  of  that  time.     G(ethe  has  his  bright 


144 

§iiad  dark  side  both  in  this,  that  he  is  all  nature^  in  the  largest  a»J 
most  comprehensive  sense  of  the  word.  Where  he  introduces 
Christianity,  it  is  exhibited,  (except  perhaps  in  Faust,  which  how-, 
ever  moves  rather  in  the  mediaeval  elements,)  not  at  all  as  the 
universal  life-power  by  which  the  whole  world  is  lo  be  pervaded 
and  renewed,  but  as  being  itself  simply  a  remarkable  object  in 
nature,  one  only  among  the  countless  phenomena  in  which  the 
universal  genius  is  required  to  feel  the  same  interest.  Charac- 
teristic in  this  view  is  the  episode  style,  in  which  the  conlessions 
of  a  virtuous  soul  are  presented  in  the  midst  of  gay  actresses  and 
amiable  coquettes.  Schiller's  ideal  is^abstract,  moral  nnrure  ; 
the  gigantically  struggling,  Stoic  will.  The  religious  element 
with  him,  where  it  appears  in  objective  dramaiic  form,  is  catholic, 
as  in  the  Maid  of  Orleans,  in  Maria  Stuart,  and  in  Wallenstein  i 
and  where  it  proceeds  from  his  own  breast,  a  mere  home-sickness, 
an  unsatisfied  longing,  as  it  flows  upon  us  for  instance,  in  sorrow- 
ful wise,  in  the  poern,  "Ac/t  aus  dieses  Thales  Grvenden.''^ 
Byron  shows  himself  a  stranger  in  full  to  the  peace  whispering 
accents  of  the  gospel,  and  to  all  true  humility.  His  home  is  the 
howling  storm  of  all  wild  passions.  He  is  the  demoniacally  in- 
spired poet  of  despair. 

Still  who  may  refuse  his  admiration  to  the  vast  poetical  powers. 
and  resources,  the  natural  greatness  sirnply  of  these  extraordina- 
ry men  ;  who  persuade  himself  that  (^od  has  introduced  such  co-. 
lossal  figures  into  our  modern  world  without  purpose,  and  allowed 
them  to  exert  so  measureless  an  influence  on  the  culture  of  mil- 
lions for  no  end  whatever  ?  No ;  such  a  mass  of  thought  and; 
beauty  cannot  possibly  be  lost  for  the  kingdoii)  of  God.  Rather 
it  challenges  the  Church  to  the  high  and  solerpn  task  of  subduing 
this  gigantic  life  to  the  power  of  her  own  spirit,  that  so  she  may 
rise  above  it,  and;  attain  thus  to  a  higher  position  than  any  to, 
which  she  has  yet  come. 

As  it  regards  finally  the  order  of  com naon  social  life,  we  may 
say  that  Christianity  wears  no  longer  a  distinguishing  priestly 
dress,  but  the  ordinary  citizen's  coai.,  The  almost  universal  ban-, 
ishment  of  the  gown  from  the  pulpit  itself,  in  this  country,  is 
characteristic  in  this  view  ;  a  novelty  at  the  same  time  which  is  by 
no  means  to  be  approved,  as  savoring  of  an  unhistorical  spiritu- 
alism and  a  want  of  proper  respect  for  what  is  sacred'.  The  ab- 
stract, extramundane  character  of  religion  has  been  laid  aside,  and 
the  claims  of  the  present  life  are  more  fully  appreciated.  Mar- 
riage is  no  longer  depressed  beside  celibacy  as  a  higher  grade  of 
sanctity  ;  but  the  minister  is  expected  to.  let  the  light  of  bisexanrir- 


145 

pie  shine  before  his  congregation,  as  a  husband  and  a  father. 
Monkery  is  abolished,  and  men  are  directed  to  exercise  their  vir- 
tue in  the  natural  employments  of  life,  and  while  standing  and 
working  in  the  world,  to  keep  themselves  unspotted  from  it.  True 
at  the  same  time,  purely  material  interests,  traffick  and  trade,  in- 
dustry and  steam,  and  along  with  all  this  utilitarianism  and  self- 
ism,  have  acquired  an  importance  to  which  they  are  not  entitled. 
For  the  spirit  ought  to  reign  over  matter.  But  still,  in  the  hand 
of  God,  even  steamships  and  railroads  must  serve  to  extend  more 
rapidly  his  kingdom. 

This  whole  posture  of  the  world  towards  the  Church  carries 
now  both  a  discouraging  and  a  cheering  aspect,  as  has  already 
been  intimated  in  the  notice  of  particulars.  It  is  an  unsound  con^ 
dition  ;  since  all  divinely  constituted  forms  and  spheres  of  life 
should  stand,  and  must  in  the  end  stand,  in  perfect  harmony  with- 
one  another.  It  serves  to  show  the  weakness  of  the  Church,  that 
she  has  allowed  these  natural  interests  thus  to  overtop  her  in  her 
growth,  instead  of  mastering  them,  and  so  directing  them  contin- 
ually to  the  glorification  of  their  Creator.  It  is  crying  ingratitude 
besides  on  the  part  of  the  world,  that  luxuriating  now  in  her  own 
prosperity,  she  affects  to  be  independent  of  Christianity,  yea  even 
presumes  to  oppose  it  broadly;  while  yet  she  is  indebted  to  it  for 
the  best  she  has,  and  without  an  inward  reconciliation  to  the 
Church,  a  full  return  to  the  element  of  religion,  can  never  fulfil 
at  all  her  own  highest  destiny.  For  the  end  or  scope  of  all  his- 
tory is  this,  that  the  world  may  resolve  itself  into  the  kingdom  of 
God,  reason  into  revelation,  morality  into  religion,  and  earth  into 
heaven.  All  sciences  must  be  raised  and  refined  into  theosophy, 
all  government  into  theocracy,  all  art  into  divine  worship,  and 
the  whole  of  life  into  a  joyful  proclamation  of  the  glory  of 
God. 

Since  however  this  ultimate  identification  of  the  world  with 
Christianity,  may  be  apprehended  also  as  an  absolute  moulding 
of  the  Church  into  all  the  forms  of  the  world,  the  full  identifica- 
tion of  Christianity  with  nature,  we  must  recognize  again  on  the 
other  side  an  encouraging  advance  towards  this  end,  in  the  pre- 
sent relation  of  the  two'systems.  The  Christian  principle  by  means 
of  it  has  become  more  naturalized,  more  at  home  in  the  world.  It 
stands  no  longer  in  mere  abstract  opposition  to  the  natural  life  ;, 
has  the  world  no  longer  under  itself  as  a  foreign  element ;  but  is. 
forming  it  into  itself,  much  as  this  may  be  denied  by  the  world  in, 
its  present  stage.  The  modern  culture  is  not  that  of  heathenism, 
but  is  carried  throughout  on  the  shoulders  of  Christianity,  draws 
from  this  constantly  its  most  substantial  life,  and  must  on- this  ve«* 

13* 


146 

r,y  account,  however  unwillingly,  come  into  subjection  to  it  in  the- 
end.  In  this  respect  also  then,  Protestantism  is  only  an  apparent 
regression;  in  truth  it  has  carried  the  Church  materially  forward. 
Roman  Catholicism  here  has  remained  behind  the  time ;  and  has 
either  refused  altogether,  with  wilful  bigotry,  to  admit  the  advance 
of  modern  cultivation  ;  or  has  yielded  to  the  force  of  it  to  a  cer* 
tain  extent,  only  for  the  most  part  where  it  has  stood  in  near  con- 
tact with  Protestantism,  and  always  in  consequence  at  least  of  its 
influence  either  direct  or  indirect.  The  more  recent  catholic  the- 
ology, for  instance,  springs  from  Germany,  and  is  conditioned  in 
its  best  productions  by  Protestant  elements.  Let  any  one  think 
only  of  Hug,  Moehler,  von  Drey,  Gehring,  Hirscher,, 
Stauden3Ieier,  Papst  and  Guenther.  The  principle  seats  of 
Romanism,  Italy,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  have  done  little  or  nothing 
in  this  sphere,  within  the  last  centuries,  and  as  it  regards  the  edu- 
cation of  the  people,  are  incredibly  far  back. 

Thus  in  this  case  also  our  contemplations  point  us,  not  back- 
wards, but  forwards  to  a  rich  future  for  Protestantism,  that  will 
leave  all  the  glory  of  the  Catholic  Church  far  in  the  rear.  The 
better  tendency  of  the  time  is  indeed  towards  objectivity  ;  not  to- 
wards that  of  the  Middle  Ages  however,  that  could  be  upheld  on- 
ly by  violently  crushing,  or  wilfully  restraining,  the  rights  of  the 
individual  subject ;  but  it  seeks  the  objective  rather  in  a  higher 
form,  in  which  it  shall  be  enriched  and  spiritualized  by  all  that 
has  been  gained  on  the  part  of  the  subjective,  the  good  fruits  of 
the  development  of  Protestantism  through  a  period  of  three 
hundred  years.  The  day  must  come  when  all  the  forms  of  life 
'<i  /which  God  has  constituted  in  the  world  shall  feel,  that  they  need 
(/  a  union  with  religion  and  the  Church,  to  realize  in  full  their  own 
idea,  and  when  they  shall  voluntarily  return  to  the  Lord,  and  lay 
their  richest  products  upon  his  altar.  That  memorable  word  of 
Bacon,  Philosophia  obiter  libata  abducita  Deo,  penitus  hausta 
reducit  ad  eundem,  may  be  applied  with  just  as  much  force  to 
Art,  Politics,  and  Social  Order,  and  must  be  fulfilled  sooner  or 
later  in  all. 

That  our  hope  of  a  new  life  for  Protestanism,  to  be  secured 
through  its  full  reconciliation  with  the  objective  idea  of  the  Church, 
18  no  empty  dream,  many  appearances  of  the  present  time,  in 
part  still  incomplete  indeed  and  solitary,  serve  to  show..  These 
now  demand  our  attention  ;  which  will  be  directed  again  first  to 
Germany,  and  then  to  America. 

Germany  is  still  far  from  having  completed  her  part  in  the 
world's  history.     Such  as  are  acquainted  with  the  present  state  of 


14T 

the  country,  as  it  regards  science,  morals  and  religion,  and. 
viewed  in  comparison  with  what  it  was  during  the  last  century 
and  the  beginning  of  this,  will  understand  the  force  of  this  remark. 
What  a  melancholy  time  was  that,  when  English  deism,  French 
frivolty,  and  superficial  German  popular  philosophy,  were  joined 
in  common  conspiracy  against  the  Church.  Pieiism  indeed  had 
still  its  representatives  ;  lor  the  most  part  however  spiritual  crip- 
ples, who  placed  the  substance  of  Christianity  in  a  few  poor 
forms,  and  turned  the  fresh  air  of  lite  into  an  uncomfortable,  gloo- 
my chamber  of  death.  The  Moravian  Brethren,  it  is  true,  were 
not  without  influence ;  but  it  was  exerted,  apart  from  theology,  in 
the  stillness  only  of  retired  practical  life..  True  again,  Suprana- 
turalism,  technically  so  called,  the  last  scientific  stand  on  the  part 
of  orthodoxy,  mustered,  in  men  like  Reinhard,  and  Store, 
learned:  and  venerable  Theologians  in  opposition  to  the  Rational- 
ists ;  but  its  position  was  onesided,  in  the  way  particularly  of  a 
too  abstract  conception  of  the  formal  principle  of  Protestantism,, 
and  it  treated  with  the  enemy  so  far,  that  in  the  end  it  fairly  fell 
over  to  his  side,  as  we  see  in  the  case  of  Schott,  Ammon  and 
Bretschneider.  Its  whole  standpoint  was  outward  and  empiri- 
cal ;  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  Church  it  had  no  sense  whatever,, 
and  could  not  possibly  therefore  keep  its  ground.  So  dry  and 
waste  had  the  German  Church  then  become,  that  minds  of  the 
deeper,  more  earnest  order,  such  as  Stolberg,  Novalis  and 
Frederick  Schlegel,  were  fain  to  take  refuge  in  the  bosom  of 
Catholicism.  And  the  revolutionary  epoch  was  so  shorn  of  ail 
religious  life  and  consciousness,  that  Schleiermagher,  in  his 
masterly  Discources  upon  Religion,  of  the  year  1779,  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  start  from  the  beginning;  taking  his  stand  as  it  were 
in  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  to  teach  his  VVolBan,  Kantian  and 
Philanthropistic  cotemporaries,  the  nature  of  religion  first  in  gen- 
eral, that  he  might  gain  fooling  again  for  an  intelligible  represen- 
tation of  the  Christian  system. 

And  how  does  it  now  stand  with  the  German  theology  ?  I  am  well 
aware  indeed  of  the  fearful  episode,  that  has  broken  in  from  the 
left  side  of  the  Hegelian  philosophy  upon  the  quiet,  regular  course 
of  its  development,  already  ripening  towards  the  best  results  ;  an 
episode  like  the  storm,  of  the  July  Revolution,  which  may  be  said 
to  have  brought  up  the  rear  of  the  political  convulsions,  through 
which  France  was  carried  with  the  close  of  the  last  century. 
Taking  however  a  broad,  general  view,  and  looking  especially 
to  the  most  recent  movements,  we  may  say  with  full  confidence 
that  the  theology  which  now  has  the  floor  of  the  age,  is 
not  rationalism,    but  orthodoxy  resuscitated^  with  a  higher  life 


148 

from  its  ruins.  With  the  decision,  power  and  fervor  of  the  old^ 
Church  faith,  it  unites  at  the  same  time  that  scientific  freedom, 
disentanglement  from  prejudice,  and  full  roundness  of  method, 
which  have  become  possible  only  through  the  modern  develop- 
ment of  rationalism  and  philosophy.  Look  now  where  we  may 
either  in  the  widely  extend(^d  shool  of  Schleiermacher,  with  its 
numerous  derivations,  the  most  independent  of  which  are  present- 
ed to  us  in  Neander,  Nitzsch  and  J.  Mueller  ;  or  among 
those  who  are  more  or  less  ruled  by  the  conservative  elements  of 
the  Hegelian  philosophy,  in  the  writings  especially  of  a  Gceschel, 
RoTHE,  Dorner,  Martensen,  Hoffmann,  Hasse  ;  either  to  the 
productions  of  the  orthodox  Unionist  tendency  of  a  Hengsten- 
berg  and  his  spiritual  colleagues,  or  the  New  Lutheran  theology 
of  a  Harless  and  others  ;  everywhere,  it  is  true,  we  find  much 
mixed  disputation  and  hard  conflict,  the  result  however  in  part  of 
mere  misapprehension  ;  but  still  everywhere  also  the  spring-breath 
of  a  newly  wakened  faith,  and  the  bursting  germs  of  a  new, 
bright  and  fruitful  era  in  theology.  This  must  be  rich  and  full, 
in  proportion  as  the  boundless  range  of  history  has  been  brought 
more  fully  and  clearly  into  view,  by  the  untiring,  most  learned 
and  profound  researches,  monumenta  cere  perenniora  of  German 
scholarship  and  German  diligence  combined.  What  is  most  ani- 
mating however  is  the  genial  union  of  free  scientific  interest  and 
true  Church  feeling  that  is  showing  itself  in  some  of  the  the- 
ologians who  have  been  named,  and  in  many  more  especially  who 
are  now  coming  forward.  This  Church  feeling  shows  itself  more- 
over in  the  formation  continually  more  and  more  of  ministerial 
associations,  for  conference  on  reigning  defects  and  mutual  encour- 
agement in  efforts  after  improvement ;  and  paiticularly  also  in 
the  concern  now  so  general,  which  is  felt  to  have  the  Church 
service  renewed  and  enriched,  by  thrusting  aside  all  watery,  ra- 
tionalistic pretended  improvements,  and  falling  back  in  a  proper 
way  to  the  incomparable  treasures  of  the  old  Church  songs  and 
liturgies.  Here  again  however  the  new  which  is  at  hand,  will  be 
not  a  mere  repetition,  but  an  enlargement  and  rectification  of  the 
old  ;  inasmuch  as  by  means  of  the  vast  researches  of  science,  in 
which  Rationalism  itself  has  fulfilled  an  important  part,  the  wealth 
of  all  centuries,  as  already  intimated,  is  now  rendered  accessible 
to  such  an  extent  as  never  before.  In  short,  the  German  Church 
and  Theology,  in  spite  of  all  difficulties  and  dangers,  may  be 
said  to  have  a  fair  wind,  and  it  were  disgraceful  cowardice  just 
now  to  draw  in  the  sails,  and  stand  despairingly  inactive  with 
hands  folded  upon  the  bosom.  It  is  the  period  emphatically  for 
hope  and  action. 


149 

And  from  what  quarter  has  this  favorable  change  proceeded  ? 
Not  wholly  from  theology  and  the  Church  themselves,  but  in 
large  part,  and  indeed  mainly,  from  the  side  of  the  secular  life, 
involving  thus  to  some  extent  already  a  verification  of  the  idea, 
that  all  natural  relations  are  to  be  pervaded  in  a  new  way  by  ihe 
spirit  of  religion.  This  precisely  is  striking  and  peculiar  in  Ger- 
many, that  the  same  foe,  the  same  science  in  particular,  which 
inflicted  such  deep  wounds  upon  its  orthodoxy,  has  again  turned 
round  of  its  own  accord,  and  furnished  the  means  for  their  cure. 
For  this  very  reason  however,  the  cure  must  prove  vastly  more 
thorough,  than  such  soundness  as  may  be  maintained  in  other 
lands,  where  all  the  attacks  of  philosophy  and  secular  culture 
against  Christianity,  are  repelled  only  with  the  rusty  armor  of 
the  old  apologetic  methods,  or  simple  proofless  appeals  to  pious 
feeling.  It  is  justly  remarked  by  Tholuck,  in  his  learned  and 
spirited  work  against  the  LebenJesu  of  Strauss,  that  the  shallow 
race  of  rationalistic  illuminatists,  at  whose  head  Nicolai  of  dull 
and  tedious  memory  once  stood,  received  its  death  blow  first 
among  the  laity,  by  the  powerful  wing-stroke  of  the  Romantic 
writers,  Tieck,  Schlegel  and  Novalis  ;  after  which  it  was 
consumed  to  the  bone  by  the  lixivium  of  ingenious  satire,  and  so 
remanded  back  again  to  its  original  nothing.  The  Romantic 
school  indeed  fixed  its  view  not  so  much  upon  the  holiness  of  re- 
ligion as  its  beauty,  making  it  an  object  of  aesthetic  enjoyment, 
which  the  ironic  '♦me"  saw  uncle?-  itself;  but  it  helped  mightily 
nevertheless  to  put  an  end  to  the  reign  of  the  mere  bald  under- 
standing. The  abstract  separation  of  Christianity  and  art,  has. 
since  that  time  disappeared  more  and  more  from  the  consciousness 
of  the  cultivated  in  Germany.  Art  itself,  in  many  of  its  most 
important  representatives,  has  again  become  religious,  in  particu-. 
br  painting,  and  music  and  poetry.  True,  the  poetry  of  despair 
and  of  sentimental  world  grief  is  still  to  be  met  with  on  all  sides  ; 
but  it  has  of  late  pronounced  its  own  doom,  by  plunging  into  poli- 
tics and  all  sorts  of  projects  for  the  world's  amelioration,  which 
contradict  entirely  the  very  idea  of  art. 

A  second  powerful  agent  in  the  production  of  the  change  which 
has  been  mentioned,  is  presented  to  us  in  the  modern  philosophy 
since  the  rise  of  Schelling.  He  freed  German  science  and; 
with  it  theology  also,  from  the  bonds  of  Kant's  standpoint  of  re-, 
flection,  and  Fichte's  subjective  idealism,  and  led  forth  the  spirit 
again  into  the  objective  world  both  of  nature  and  history.  Speak 
as  men  may  against  German  transcendentalism,  as  the  word, 
passes  here  in  a  wholesale  way,  this  at  least  no  one  acquainted 
\yi.th  the  subject  can  deny  ;  that  at  the  very  time  when.the  mosti 


150 

celebrated  theologians  cast  away  the  cardinal  evangelical  doc- 
trines of  the  incarnation  and  atonement,  as  antiquated  supersti- 
tions, ScHELLiNG  and  Hegel  stood  forth  in  their  defence,  and 
claimed  for  them  the  character  of  the  highest  reason  ;  and  that 
while  the  reigning  view  saw  in  history  only  an  aggregate  of  ar- 
bitrary opinions,  a  chaos  of  selfish  passions,  they  taught  the  world 
to  recognize  in  it  the  ever  opening  sense  of  eternal  thoughts, 
an  al'.vays  advancing  rational  development  of  the  idea  of  hu- 
manity and  its  relations  to  God.  Such  a  view  must  gradually 
overthrow  the  abrupt  revolutionary  and  negative  spirit  which 
characterized  the  last  century,  restoring  respect  for  the  Church 
and  its  history,  and  making  room  for  the  genuine  power  of  the 
positive.*     It  is  true  indeed,  that  one  section  of  the  Hegelian 


*  Just  after  I  had  w^ritten  this,  the  article  of  Professor  Stowe,  in  the 
Bib.  Rcpos.  Jan.  1845,  entitled  Teutonic  Metaphysics  or  Modern  Trans- 
cendentalism,  came  to  my  sight  ;  and  as  it  has  been  already  welcomed  in 
several  papers  as  highly  important  and  seasonable,  Ido  not  feel  at  lib- 
erty to  pass  it  over  in  silence.  I  am  truly  sorry,  to  find  myself  disap-- 
pointed  in  Dr.  Stowe.  In  view  only  of  his  relations  to  my  honored  in- 
structor and  friend  Dr.  Dorner,  now  counsellor  of  consistory  and  pro- 
fessor of  theology  at  Koenigsherg,  I  held  him  capable  of  understanding 
and  appreciating  the  German  philosophy  and  theology,  much  beyond 
what  he  has  shown  in  this  unfortunate  article.  It  is  not  in  my  mind  at 
all  to  undertake  a  wholesale  defense  of  any  system  of  German  philoso- 
phy as  such;  for  I  prize  too  much  the  liberty  of  thought  to  be  bound  by 
any  philosophical  school,  and  yield  my  reason  to  be  led  only  by  the 
bible.  But  men  like  Kant,  Fichte,  Schelling  and  Hegel,  who  have 
devoted  their  whole  life  to  the  most  laborious  and  profound  inquiries, 
and  who  beyond  all  question  belong  to  the  greatest  names  in  the  histo~ 
ry  of  the  world,  should  be  treated  in  different  style  by  such  a  man  as. 
Stow^e,  in  justice  only  to  his  own  character.  Instead  of  saying  a  word 
to  us  on  the  contents  of  the  later  positive  system  of  Schelling,  he  in- 
forms us  of  his  controversy  with  Dr.  Paulus  of  Heidelberg,  which  has 
nothing  in  the  world  to  do  with  the  matter  in  hand  ;  and  even  takes  the 
part  of  this  wretched  rationalist,  who  closed  his  career  as  a  writer  with 
a  literary  theft,  against  the  great  philosopher — not  dreaming  at  all,  as. 
it  would  seem,  that  it  is  precisely  the  acknowledged  merit  of  this  last, 
to  have  overcome  the  standpoint  of  the  abstract  understanding,  from 
which  the  old  common  Rationalism  made  wai  upon  all  the  deeper 
truths  of  Christianit3\  For  this  "common  sense,"  entitled  as  it  is  to 
all  respect  in  its  own  sphere,  the  region  of  the  simply  finite,  will  al- 
ways hold  the  doctrines  of  the  trinity  and  incarnation  for  nonsense  ; 
since  according  to  its  shallow,  empty  way  of  reasoning,  three  cannot 
be  one  nor  one  three,  God  cannot  be  man  nor  man  God.  If  thern  no 
bigher  principle  be  allowed  to  prevail  in  theology,  it  must  be  shorn  of" 
all  its  deeper  import.  Such  a  higher  principle  is  the  reason^  by  which 
we  apprehend  the  supersensuous,  the  infinite,  the  divine.     But  it  ig. 


151 


•school,  (the  so  called  left  side),  has  produced  the  latest  and  most 
dangerous  form  of  Rationalism,  in  which  the  doctrine  of  myths 
and  pantheistic  hero-worship  are  made  to  play  so  large  a  part. 
But  this  tendency  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  historical,  ob- 
jective element,  that  clearly  rules  the  spirit  if  not  always  the  letter 
of  the  great  philosopher's  writings,  and  cannot  be  regarded  there- 
fore at  all  events  as  a  complete  application  of  his  system  to  theol- 
ogy. And  then  again  it  must  be  considered,  that  the  movement 
in  question  is  rendered  so  dangerous,  just  because  it  has  received 
into  itself,  pantheistically  caricatured  to  be  sure,  so  many  truths 
of  Christianity,  for  which  the  old  Rationalism  had  no  organ  what- 
ever, and  because  it  is  conducted  also  with  so  much  more  spirit 

ScHELLiNG  precisely  who  has  successfully  asserted  the  supremacy  of 
tnis  prmciple  in  science.  To  be  convinced  of  this,  let  Dr.  Stowe  read 
Schelling's  Lectures  on  the  Method  of  Academic  Study,  particularly 
the  fifth  and  sixth.  He  will  find  there  a  most  masterly  and  powerful 
argument  against  the  presumption  of  the  mere  understanding,  in  thrust- 
ing itself  with  its  poor  surface-skimming  nature  into  the  region  of  the 
higher  sciences,  which  have  to  do  with  everlasting  ideas— makino-  ail 
flat  by  trying  to  make  all  clear.  Hegel's  works  Prof.  Stowe  telh  us 
he  has  "  waded  through"  — so  long  since  however,  or  in  such  cursory 
style,  that  he  can  no  longer  recollect  of  how  many  volumes  they  con- 
sist, missing  the  mark  entirely  in  his  general  guess  (p.  86.).  No 
wonder  that  his  memory  should  be  found  still  more  at  fault,  as  it  re- 
gards the  actual  contents  of  this  exceedingly  difficult  system.  In  fact 
he  does  not  pretend  to  draw  from  the  fountain  itself,  but  only  from  the 
Conversations- Lexicon  of  Brockhaus  ;  an  ass's  bridge  notoriously  for 
superficial  |and  lazy  thinkers,  used  by  shopkeepers'  clerks,  but  by  no 
true  German  scholar,  at  least  in  so  weighty  a  case.  After  giving  us  in 
this  way  a  most  lean  skeleton,  translated  as  he  himself  says  "not  atl 
sensum,  but  only  ad  verbitm,  he  informs  us  with  all  honesty  that  he 
cannot  understand  the  philosopher  at  all.  He  cannot  find  out  indeed 
"what  the  man  means  by  any  thing  he  says  in  all  his  writing-s,"  so 
far  as  examined.  Yet  he  adds,  "Let  no  one  say  I  have  caricatured  the 
system"  —  as  if  a  translation  of  isolated  fragments  ad  verbum  only, 
could  possibly  in  such  a  case  be  anything  else  than  caricature  !  What 
a  man  by  his  own  confession  does  not  comprehend,  it  might  be  as  well 
perhaps  that  he  should  not  undertake  to  explain.  Especially  so,  where 
as  in  the  present  instance  the  explanation  is  expected  to  carry  with  it  a 
sort  of  "  official  authority"  for  the  general  public.  Hegel  has  errors 
and  sins  enough  to  answer  for,  no  doubt.  But  this  is  no  reason  why 
he  should  be  loaded  with  niisiepresentation,  and  made  to  appear  little 
better  than  a  fool  at  \^  barojf  the  common  understanding.  It  is  al- 
ways how^ever  sheer,;  grgsfe  Jnisrepresentation,  when  his  words  or 
thoughts  are  violently  sunclcTed  from  their  true  historical  life,  and  forced 
to  stand  by  abstract  translation! in  new  connections  and  relations  entire- 
ly, in  which  inevitably  all  theiit'  original  sense  is  transmuted,  for  the  po- 
pular mind  especially ^ 'in to  barfe  nonsense. 


152 

and  depth  ;  which  itself  again  is  to  be  referred  to  a  general  ad- 
vance,  that  may  be  easily  remarked  also  in  the  form  of  the  later 
theology  as  more  scientific  than  before.  The  very  latest  specu^ 
lation  besides,  in  the  person  of  the  still  living  founder  of  the  Iden- 
tity System,  Schelling  himself  has  taken  a  direction  decidedly 
towards  positive  revelation  ;  and  it  may  be  said  now  with  good 
certainty  at  least,  that  the  bloom  period  of  the  pantheistic  logic 
and  purely  negative  anti-theology  is  already  over.  Strauss  and 
his  colleagues,  by  reason  of  the  much  greater  weight  of  religious 
and  Church  feeling  they  have  been  called  to  encounter,  have  out- 
lived themselves  much  sooner  than  their  predecessors  Paulus, 
Wegscheider,  &c.  ;  and  Bruno  Bauer,  the  object  now  of  al- 
most  universal  aversion,  has  been  formally  deprived  of  his  office, 
a  thing  of  whose  like  no  body  scarcely  would  have  dreamed 
twenty  years  ago.  Such  as  are  acquainted  with  the  state  of 
things  in  this  quarter  must  allow,  that  the  latest  critical  and 
philosophical  opposers  of  Christianity,  have  in  a  great  measure, 
by  their  own  contradictions  and  extravagance,  destroyed  them- 
selves ;  so  that,  as  before  remarked,  the  leaders  of  the  orthodox 
theology,  after  a  brief  interregnum,  are  again  at  the  helm  of  the 
vessel  under  the  most  encouraging  auspices. 

In  Germany,  philosophy,  as  the  spirit  of  the  age  exalted  to 
scientific  consciousness,  exerts  a  controlling  influence,  over  all  de- 
partments of  higher  knowledge.  From  the  school  of  Schelling 
accordingly,  in  such  men  as  Eshenmeyerj  Steffens,  Schu- 
bert, a  decidedly  religious  tone  has  been  imparted  to  investiga- 
tions in  the  sphere  of  nature,  by  which  this  department  has  been 
effectually  rescued  from  the  hands  of  atheism  and  abstract  deism. 
Steffens  in  particular  has  made  it  the  great  object  of  his  life,  in 
his  scientific  and  poetic  representations,  to  reconcile  nature  with 
religion,  the  cultivated  world  consciousness  with  the  con- 
sciousness of  Christianity.  So  also  the  greatest  later  histo- 
rians, as  Leo,  Ranke,  Haug,  show  a  special  interest  in 
religion  and  the  Church,  as  forming  the  central  force  and 
life  pulse  properly  of  the  world's  history  ;  and  bring  them  con- 
tinually into  the  view  of  their  readers,  unfettered  by  the  old 
spiritless  pragmatism,  with  living  reproduction,  and  that  freedom 
from  prejudice  and  love  of  justice,  peculiar  to  the  German  mind, 
by  which  every  age  is  allowed  to  enjoy  its  own  proper  greatness 
unimpaired.  Philology  itself,  both  oriental  and  classical,  has 
come  by  its  inward  development  to  stand  in  a  new  relation  to  the 
holy  scriptures.  The  earlier  Rationai'sm  imposed  its  own  arbi«- 
trary  hypotheses  and  neological  dreams  on  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  by  a  fearful  grammatical  recklessness  and  truly 
wheel-breaking  exegesis;  and  even  the  Supranaturalism  of  the 


153 

same  period,  as  exhibited  by  Storr  and  others,  lies  open  to  cen- 
sure in  the  same  view*  But  before  the  bar  of  the  later  philology, 
this  is  no  longer  possible.  Professor  Winer,  of  Leipzig,  whose 
grammatical  authority  as  free  from  all  theological  bias  is  univer- 
sally acknowledged,  says  unreservedly,  "Our  exegetical  contro- 
versies have  led  back  usually  to  that  sense  as  correct,  which  the 
Protestant  Church  held  in  the  beginning."*  Such  a  man  as  C.  Fr. 
Aug.  Fritzsche,  who  stands  in  no  inward  affinity  with  the 
spirit  of  the  bible,  but  who  as  it  regards  philological  learning  and 
accuracy,  (at  times  even  pushed  to  excess,)  is  fairly  rivalled 
among  lecent  interpreters  only  by  Harless  and  Bleek,  finds 
himself  constrained,  from  the  grammatico-historicai  standpoint 
alone,  to  prefer  in  the  most  important  cases  the  interpretations  of 
a  Chrysostom,  Augustine,  Luther,  Calvin,  Beza,  Bengel, 
to  those  of  the  Rationalistic  school;  and  Strauss  himself  has 
rendered  good  service  to  the  cause  of  truth,  in  his  Lehen  Jesu,  by 
the  overwhelming  force  with  which  he  has  employed  the  reductio 
ad  absurdum  upon  the  violent  exegetical  processes,  made  use  of 
by  the  older  Rationalism,  in  carrying  out  its  so  called  natural  ex- 
planation of  miracles.  Unbelief  is  thus  forced  to  look  in  future 
for  help  in  some  different  direction  ;  it  can  no  longer  cover  its 
nakedness  with  a  philological  mantle.  The  scientific  study  of 
language  itself,  by  its  own  inward  development  and  without  any 
regard  to  Christianity,  has  led  to  the  immensely  important  result, 
that  the  Church,  orthodox  Protestantism  in  particular,  has  under- 
stood the  bible  in  substance  correctly,  and  must  be  allowed  there- 
fore to  have  ail  right  against  Rationalism  at  the  bar  of  science,  if 
only  the  assumption  of  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  scriptures  be 
securely  established. 

Finally,  the  political  circumstances  of  Germany  have  also  cori- 
tributed  much  to  the  new  impulse  which  has  been  given  to  reli- 
gion. In  the  war  for  freedom  particularly  against  the  French 
Usurper,  both  princes  and  people  were  overpowered  with  an  ever 
memorable,  sacred  enthusiasm,  when  the  Lord  of  hosts,  after  long 
continued  well  deserved  oppression,  interposed  so  powerfully  by 
the  thunder  of  battle,  and  revealed  himself  so  clearly  in  the  direc- 
tion of  events.  Since  that  time  too,  the  State  has  begun  to 
change  its  posture  materially  towards  the  Church.  Formerly 
this  was  treated  too  generally  as  the  mere  creature  of  Caesar, 

*  Leipzio;er  Literatur  Zeitung  1833.  N.  44.  Comp.  the  Preface  to 
the  third  edition  of  his  Grammar  of  N.  T.  Idioms,  p.  IV  ff.,  as  well  as 
the  whole  admirable  work  itself.  A  similar  regeneration  has  been  ef- 
fected by  EwALD  and  Hitzig  in  the  department  of  the  Old  Testament* 

14 


154 

being  regarded  simply  as  one  among  the  several  institutions  by 
which  the  Slate  was  expected  to  serve  its  own  purposes.  Now 
however  it  is  coming  to  be  understood  and  felt,  that  the  Church 
has  a  life  of  its  own,  and  that  the  State  consults  its  own  welfare 
best,  when  this  life  is  respected  as  an  independent  interest,  and 
suffered  to  develope  itself  freely  from  its  own  nature.  If  any  one 
will  compare  the  administration  of  the  present  kings  of  Prussia 
and  Wirtemberg  with  that  of  their  predecessors,  particularly 
Frederick  the  Great,  he  will  at  once  admit  the  great  change 
which  has  taken  place  in  this  respect. 

From  the  State  moreover,  under  Frederick  William  III, 
proceeded  in  the  first  instance  that  ZJ/iio.'i  of  the  Lutheran  and 
Reformed  Churches,  which  has  since  become  almost  universal  in 
Germany,  and  must  be  regarded  nov/  as  a  great  step  gained  to- 
wards the  catholicity  and  unity  necessarily  involved  in  the  idea  of 
the  Church  itself.  It  is  not  good  either,  that  Christ's  bride  should 
bear  the  name  of  a  mere  man,  as  Lutheran  and  the  like.*  The 
title  Evangelical  is  much  more  catholic  and  appropriate  ;  though 
not  in  the  sense  to  be  sure  which  it  is  frequently  made  to  carry 
in  our  western  States,  when  used  as  a  mere  cloak  for  rationalism 
and  indifferentism.  The  stiff,  absolute  Old-Iutheranism  of  Prussia 
and  Bavaria  may  be  considered  indeed  a  salutary  reaction  against 
the  indifference  of  many  of  the  friends  of  the  Union  to  doctrines  ; 
and  in  this  view,  we  are  glad  to  find  its  representatives  in  this 
country  also.  But  apart  from  this  particular  advantage,  it  is  cer- 
tainly a  crying,  stubborn  misapprehension  of  the  wants  of  our 
time,  which  reach  far  beyond  its  narrow  horizon.  It  is  truly  ri- 
diculous indeed,  thus  to  fancy  the  Form  of  Concord  the  absolute 
perfection  of  theology,  and  to  require  virtually  that  not  only  the 
Greek  and   Roman  Churches,    but  the  Reformed  also  with  its 


*  The  designations,  Presbyterian,  Congregational,  Protestant  Episco- 
pal are  also  unsatisfactory,  as  referring  only  to  government ;  which 
however  is  clearly  but  a  secondary  element  of  the  Church,  belonging 
not  to  its  spirit  but  to  its  outward  form.  Our  title,  Reformed,  coupled 
only  if  need  be  with  the  national  distinction,  is  plainly  the  best.  For 
it  implies  no  dependence  whatever  on  any  particular  man,  and  includes 
the  view  besides  that  we  are  no  new  body,  but  the  old  Catholic  Church 
itself,  only  regenerated  and  purified  from  human  additions.  As  how- 
ever this  term  has  acquired  in  Germany  a  definite  bistorical  sense,  in 
opposition  to  the  idea  of  Lutheranism,  it  was  altogether  proper  that  the 
title  Evangelical  should  be  preferred.  Names  in  so  weighty  a  case  are 
not  mere  smoke,  but  the  impression  of  the  idea  ;  and  it  is  known  that 
Luther  most  decidedly  disapproved  the  designation  of  his  followers 
after  his  own  name. 


155 

German,  Low  Dutch,  French,  English,  Scotch  and  American 
branches,  should  make  it  their  great  business  to  subjcribe  it  and 
submit  themselves  to  Lutheran  baptism.  The  future  belon^-s  cer- 
tainly to  the  "  Union,"  and  within  its  range  precisely  the  most 
religious  life  is  to  be  found  at  the  present  time.  The  most  impor- 
tant and  pious  theologians  of  Germany,  asNEANDER,  Hengsten- 

BERG,  TWESTEN,  MaRHEINEKE,  SaRTORIUS,  ThOLUCK,  MuEL- 
LER,    HUPFELD,  NiTZSCII,  SaCK,  BlEEK,    KlING,  HaIIJV,  LaNGE, 

Hoffmann,  Luecke  Liebner,  Ullmann,  Rothe,  Umbreit, 
Schmidt,  Dorner,  Landerer  go  with  it  fully  ;  though  for 
themselves  a  number  of  them  prefer,  in  a  doctrinal  respect  at 
least,  the  Lutheran  standpoint.  To  be  sure  the  Union,  in  its 
present  form,  is  to  be  viewed  merely  as  a  beginning  ;  and  the 
closer  adjustment  of  it,  especially  in  the  symbolical  direction, 
creates  just  at  this  time  no  small  difficulty.  Nor  can  it  be  denied, 
that  the  measures  of  the  government  to  promote  Church  improve- 
rnent  in  Prussia,  labor  under  the  defect  of  more  or  less  irresolu- 
tion. Good  will  is  present,  but  there  is  a  lack  of  fixed  principles 
and  talent  for  practical  organization  ;  for  which  at  all  events,  the 
German,  whose  spiritual  universalism  is  always  multiplying  pos- 
sibilities and  doubts  before  him,  has  never  been  particularly  dis- 
tinguished. The  case  however  is  in  its  own  nature  immensely 
difficult,  and  becomes  still  more  so  by  the  manifold  spiritual  ten- 
dencies, and  peculiarly  diversified  forms  of  culture,  that  enter  in- 
to the  constitution  of  the  Prussian  State  ;  enough  to  confound  the 
most  thorough  practical  skill,  that  is  not  prepared  to  violate  all 
the  rights  of  history.  And  then  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  the 
whole  Evangelical  Church  is  at  present  in  an  interimistic  state, 
involved  in  a  process  of  fermentation  and  transition,  which  brines 
along  with  it  necessarily  a  measure  of  uncertainty  and  experi- 
ment. In  any  case,  this  is  something  better  however  than  to  re- 
pose lazily  on  pillows  worn  out  by  use,  or  to  dream  with  un- 
bounded self-complacency  and  pretension  of  being  in  a  condition  / 
already  complete.  -.V 

Let  us  leave  however  the  king  of  Prussia,  with  his  spiritual  and 
secular  counsellors,  to  work  out  as  they  best  may,  under  the  favor 
of  heaven,  the  problem  they  are  called  to  solve,  and  turn  our  at- 
tention once  more  upon  our  own^iaiid.  What  prospect  is  there 
here,  in  the  way  of  encouragement  for  the  Church  ?  May  we  hope 
to  see  our  Protestant  Zion  conducted  safely  out  of  the  Babylonish 
captivity  of  sectarism  and  faction,  without  being  carried  to  old 
Rome  or  young  Oxford? 

We  have  no  such  deep  scientific  conflicts  among  us,  as  those 
we  have  just  had  in  our  view.     The  philosophical  life  questions 


156 

pf  Germany,  the  relation  of  the  Church  to  the  Arts  and  to  the^ 
State,  with  which  the  greatest  minds  there  are  exercised  in  the 
severest  way,  bring  no  trouble  whatever  to  the  American.  Cui 
bonol  he  is  ready  to  exclaim,  in  view  of  every  speculation  of  the 
sort  ;  dubbing  it  perhaps  with  the  convenient  titie  transcendental- 
ism or  mysticism,  to  justify  his  contempt.  What  has  it  accom- 
plished lor  the  souls  of  men  or  their  bodies  1  Can  it  fill  an  empty 
pocket,  or  an  empty  stomach  1  Has  it  ever  manufactured  a  steam- 
boat, or  so  much  even  as  a  pin  1  Such  is  the  style,  in  substance 
if  not  in  form,  in  which  the  interest  of  philosophical  thinking  is 
too  often  undervalued  in  this  country,  in  favor  of  what  is  practical 
and  useful.  With  such  a  spirit,  of  course,  1  can  feel  no  sympathy. 
It  is  greatly  to  be  lamented,  that  the  German  Churches  of  Ameri- 
ca in  particular  should  be  so  sadly  defective  in  theological  and 
philosophical  culture,  and  without  a  single  literary  institution  after 
the  pattern  of  the  German  gymnasia  or  universities.  The  result 
of  this  must  be  in  the  end,  that  our  congregations  will  lose  them- 
selves in  the  English  denominations,  with  the  sacrifice  of  their 
own  proper  character  entirely,  unless  they  can  be  brought  be- 
times into  spiritual  communication  with  the  mother  Church  in- 
Germany.  On  the  other  hand,  if  they  might  be  led  thus  to  parti- 
cipate with  proper  life  in  the  later  movements  of  German  theolo- 
gy, they  would  take  a  position  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  must 
exercise  gradually  an  important  influence  also  on  their  English 
sister  Churches.  For  these  too  need  a  vastly  more  thorough  and 
vigorous  theology,  to  carry  them  prosperously  forward,  and  make 
them  superior  to  the  foes  that  now  threaten  them  from  every  side. 
Theology  is  no  less  necessary  for  the  regeneration  of  Protestant- 
ism now,  than  it  was  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  Reformation 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  To  prevent  misunderstanding,  it  may 
be  well  to  be  a  little  more  particular  on  the  importance  of  theoU 
ogy,,in  its  relation  to  practical  Church-  life. 

Some  take  ground  on  principle  against  all  theological  training, 
as  injurious  to  the  interests  of  living,  practical  piety.  Such  are 
welcome  to  the  illiterate  declaimers  in  whom  they  choose  to  take 
delight,  with  all  their  rant  and  noise  and  animal  excitement  ;  men 
who  trample  under  foot  the  apostolic  caution  with  regard  to  this 
point,  [James  S  :  1,)  and  in  their  wretched  spiritual  pride  deal 
forth  the  stale  conceits  and  fantastic  soap  bubbles  of  their  ovn 
poor  brain,  for  the  inspirations  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Alas  for  the 
congregations,  whose 'want  of  divscernment  leads  them  to  accept 
such  husks  for  bread.  Show  us  then,  ye  opposers  of  knowledge, 
which  the  apostle  makes  the  element  of  eternal  life,  where  are 
the  men  whom  a  miraculous   illumination  of  the  Spirit  has  con-- 


157 

stifcuted  theologians  with  a  single  stroke  ;  and  no  one  will  be  more 
ready  to  show  them  respect  than  ourselves.  But  ye  substitute 
your  own  fanatical  feeling  for  the  Holy  Ghost.  Pentecosts  are 
not  common  days  in  history  ;  and  according  to  the  general  rule 
and  order  of  God,  which  we  are  bound  humbly  to  observe,  even 
our  spiritual  bread  is  to  be  earned  by  the  sweat  of  our  brow.  Our  ( 
intellectual  and  moral  faculties  are  given  us,  not  to  be  buried  or  \ 
left  to  rust,  but  to  be  put  to  use  and  made  productive.  We  are 
directed  to  search  the  scriptures  continually,  and  to  grow  in  all 
wisdom  and  knowledge.  If  the  apostles  themselves,  after  an  in- 
tercourse  of  three  years  with  the  Master  of  all  masters,  needed 
still  an  extraordinary  furniture  of  divine 'gifts  for  their  work,  it 
must  certainly  he  considered  no  small  presumption,  when  a  little 
religious  experience  merely,  and  this  often  in  the  most  superficial 
form,  together  with  some  tolerable  fluency  of  speech,  is  held,  as 
with  many  in  this  country  at  the  present  time,  a  sufficient  prepara- 
tion for  the  most  important  and  difficult  of  all  offices.  Let  us-  ! 
hope,  that  the  age  of  such  presumption  may  soon  come  to  an  end.  J 
For  nothing  is  more  adapted  lo  bring  the  ministry  into  disrespect, 
to  strip  the  pulpit  of  its  true  sacred  dignity,  and  to  make  the 
Church  itself  in  the  end  an  object  of  general  indifference  and 
derision. 

Others  pronounce  theology  useful  at  least  ;  and  regard  this  as 
quite  a  fine  compliment  paid  to  the  science.  These  are  your 
utilitarians  and  materialists,  who  measure  the  value  of  all  things  in 
Irs.ivcn  and  upon  earth  by  the  interest  they  bring.  While  seem- 
ing to  praise  it,  they  sink  the  first  of  all  sciences  into  the  same 
category  with  a  bushel  of  potatoes;  and  indeed  lower,  since  these 
last  may  lay  claim  to  a  much  more  general  and  palpable  utility. 
Theology  is  neither  useful  nor  harmful  ;  it  is  raised  immeasura- 
bly above  the  poor  category  of  serviceableness  ;  it  is  no  means, 
with  which  to  procure  something  beyond  itself,  as  we  employ 
money  or  a  mechanical  instrument  ;  but  an  end  in  itself,  and  for 
any  one  who  will  hold  a  prominent  place  in  the  Church  just  as 
indispensable,  as  the  knowledge  of  law  for  a  statesman  or  the 
knowledge  of  nature  for  a  physician.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  ;  i 
so  that  no  well  ordered  condition  of  the  Church  is  to  be  thought  I 
of,  where  theology  does  not  flourish. 

The  necessity  for  it  does  not  spring  from  mere  outward  occa-\ 
sions,.  but  from  the  inmost  nature  of  the  Christian  faith  itself. \ 
Our  religion  is  not  simply  for  feeling  or  for  the  will  sepa- 
rately taken,  but  full  as  much  for  the  faculty  of  knowledge 
also,  the  understanding  and  reason  ;  it  seeks  to  penetrate  and  per- 
vade harmoniously  all  the  powers  of  man's  nature,  and  thus  to 
refine  and  perfect  him  in  the  undivided  totality  of  his  person*     It 

14* 


158 

belongs  to  the  inmost  nature  of  faith,  that  it  should  raise  itself 
continually  to  clearer  consciousness,  attain  always  to  a  more  dis- 
tinct and  full  knowledge  of  its  object,  that  is  of  God  as  revealed 
in  Christ.  Fisiis  is  in  itself  the  fruitful  germ  of  a  true  gnosis, 
and  rests  not  till  it  becomes  at  last  the  vision  of  God  face  to  face, 
which  is  at  the  same  time  also  the  conception  of  the  full  blessed- 
ness of  heaven  itself.  If  faith  be  true,  it  must  allow  this  to  be 
shown,  so  far  as  this  may  be  possible  in  the  present  world.. 
Christianity  is  not  against  reason,  but  only  above  reason.*  Only 
superficial  knowledge  is  irreligious  ;  true,  thorough  knowledge 
stands  in  covenant  with  faith,  and  is  not  possible  without  it.  But 
faith  should  be  ever  struggling  to  become  knowledge  ;  Christiani- 
ty should  enter  always  more  and  more  into  the  comprehension  of 
reason.  "Negligentiae  mihi  videtur,  si  postquam  confirmati 
sumus  in  fide,  non  studemus  quod  credimus  inteliigere."  Thus 
speaks  the  greatest  theologian  of  the  Middle  Ages,  one  of  the  most 
eminently  pious  men  at  the  same  time  belonging  to  the  history  of 
the  Church. t  So  Augustine,  whose  name  is  above  all  praise, 
and  before  whose  powerful  spirit  both  the  Catholic  and  Protes 
tant  Churches  bow  with  almost  equal  reverence,  represents  ^rowt 
in  theological  knowledge  to  be  a  growth  of  God  in  the  soul  itsel 
"Crescat  ergo  Deus,  qui  semper  perfectus  est,  crescat  in  te 
Quanto  enim  magis  intelligis  Deumet  quanto  magis  capis,  videtur 
in  te  crescere  Deus.  Intelligebas  heri  modicum,  intelligis  hodie 
amplius,  intelliges  eras  multo  amplius  ;  lumen  ipsum  Dei  orescit 
in  te.  Proficit  quidem  in  Deo  interior  homo,  et  Deus  in  illo  vide- 
tur crescere,  ipse  tamen  minuitur,  ut  a  gloria  sua  decidat  et  in 
gloriam  Dei  surgat.":]:  Theology  appears  thus  an  indispensable 
organ  in  the  life  of  the  Church  ;  its  head,  its  consciousness,  and 
so  its  ornament  and  joy  ;  theology  of  course  in  the  sense  of  our 
protestant  ancestors,  in  whose  production  are  joined  oratio,  medi- 
tatio  and  tentatio,  the  theologia  regenitorumy  besides  which  in- 
deed there  is  none  that  is  entitled  to  the  name. 

Happy  is  he,  who  has  attained  to  this  exalted  view  !  A  genera- 
tion that  crawls  in  the  dust  may  style  him,  in  pity  or  derision,  an 
idealist,  perchance  even  a  phantast.  But  all  this  he  counts  an 
honor.     For  he  knows  that  it  is  not  gold  nor  steam,  but  ideas 

*  Or,  to  speak  with  Pascal,  "  La  foi  dit  bien  ce  que  les  sens  ne 
disent  pas,  mais  jamais  le  contraire.  Elle  est audessus,  non  pas  cuntre.^'' 

\  Anselm  of  Canterbury,  in  the  beginning  of  his  work,  Cur  Deus 
homo  ? 

X  In  Evang.  Joann.  c.  3.  tracts  IG.. 


I 


159 

that  rule  the  world,  and  constitute  the  soul,  the  hearths  blood  of 
history,  producing  in  it  all  that  is  either  true  or  abiding.  For  no 
price  would  he  separate  himself  from  the  regina  scientiarum  ; 
all  the  glory  of  the  world,  all  the  praise  of  men,  are  to  him  as 
nothing,  in  comparison  with  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of 
God  in  Christ. 

It  follows  then  with  logical  necessity,  that  the  progress  of  the! 
Church  moves  hand  in  hand  with  the  progress  of  theology.  Where 
ignorance  rules  an  age,  where  the  diligent  study  of  the  scriptures 
is  neglected,  there  at  the  same  time  the  whole  Christian  life  grows 
sickly,  and  one  form  of  error  after  another  creeps  into  the  sanc- 
•tuary.  On  the  contrary,  where  genuine  piety  flourishes,  where 
the  whole  Church  is  made  to  feel  the  life  giving  presence  of  God's 
Spirit,  there  knowledge  shows  itself  clear  and  fresh  to  the  same 
extent.  What  is  it  we  admire  so  much  in  the  age  of  the  apostles  ? 
The  striking  union  of  the  deepest  insight  into  the  character  and 
works  of  God,  with  the  most  vigorous  activity  ;  the  full  toned 
harmony  of  all  the  powers  of  the  soul,  filled  and  governed  by  one 
and  the  same  principle.  Paul,  who  labored  more  than  all  the 
rest  of  the  apostles,  is  also  a  master  in  the  way  of  knowledge,  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  fullest  development  of  doctrine,  a 
wonderfully  profound  exhibition  of  Christian  truth,  and  most 
powerful  confutation  of  error  at  the  same  time.  By  his  scriptural 
arguments,  and  his  keen  logical  combinations  and  conclusions,  he 
^so  handled  his  adversaries,  both  heathen  and  Jewish,  as  to  leave 
iHem  ever  after  without  excuse  for  their  unbelief.  John,  the! 
apostle  of  love,  has  been  styled  not  without  reason  by  the  Church,) 
the  "Theologian"  per  ejninentiam.  For  by  the  eagle  flight  of 
his  believing  speculation  into  the  depths  of  God  and  his  Word^ 
made  flesh  for  our  salvation,  as  existing  before  the  world,  he  may 
be  said  to  have  led  the  way  to  Christian  theology  in  its  bold  and 
glorious  course.*  His  love  is  only  the  strong  will-force  of 
knowledge  ;  his  knowledge  but  the  keen  vision  of  love.  The 
whole  history  of  the  Church  furnishes  proof,  that  the  men  who 
have  exerted  the  greatest  and  most  happy  influence,  the  wakers  of 
a  new  life,  the  pillars  in  the  temple  of  God,  have  always  been  dis- 


*  Hence  the  ancient  hymn  sings  of  him  : 

Volat  avis  sine  meta, 

Quo  nee  vates  nee  propheta 

Evolavit  altimus. 
Tarn  implenda,  quam  impleta 
Numquam  vidit  tot  secreta 

Purus  homo  purius. 


160 

tinguished  also  above  their  cotemporaries  by  a  thorough  scientific 
cuhivation.  It  is  sufficient  to  call  up  the  names  simply  of  such  men 
as  Irenaeus,  Oeigen,  Cyprian,  Athanasius,  the  Cappado- 
cian  Gregory,  Basil  the  Great,  Augustine,  Anselm,  Thomas 
AauiNAS,  Luther,  Melancthon,  Calvin,  Beza,  John  Ger. 
HARD,  Spener,  Bengel,  Wesley,  Edwards.  Where  a  new 
religious  movement  is  not  rooted  at  the  same  time  in  a  solid  doc- 
trinal ground,  the  case  of  our  later  awakenings  too  generally,  it 
is  found  also  to  have  no  enduring  force,  or  at  all  events  cannot 
carry  the  Church  forward  as  a  whole. 

Shall  now  the  general  rule  as  established  by  the  history  of  the 

Church,   have   no  application  to  the  time  in  which   we  ourselves 

I    live'?    There  is  an  opinion  indeed,  that  the  Reformers  and  theolo- 

Ijj  gians  of  the  sevenieenth  century,  have  accomplished  in  theology 

>  l\  all  that  is  to  be  done,  so  that  we  need   now  only  to  hold  fast  this 

I  Protestant  tradition,  and  hand  it  on  mechanically  to  the  next  gen- 

,  «  eration.  This  principle  of  stagnation  is  openly  advocated  by 
one  at  least  of  the  most  influential  theological  journals  of  the 
country,  whose  authority  with  a  large  portion  of  the  American 
Church  is  counted  well  nigh  infallible.  With  all  our  respect 
however  for  the  piety  and  standing  of  its  conductors,  we  must 
protest  decidedly  against  every  such  view.  How  inconsistent,  to 
admit  a  perfectibility  and  actual  progress,  both  of  the  individual 
and  of  the  race,  in  all  de})artments  of  mind,  in  the  natural  scien- 
ces, in  jurisprudence,  in  the  knowledge  of  history,  in  political 
development,  in  all  material  or  outward  interests,  in  morality  and 
piety,  only  not  in  philosophy  and  theology.  Is  then  the  bible 
alone  a  book  so  clear  and  plain,  that  all  its  depths  are  already 
exhausted  7  Are  then  the  powers  of  the  human  mind  so  abstract- 
ly separate  from  one  another,  that  one  may  become  absolutely 
complete  without  the  rest?  Have  our  Protestant  ancestors  per- 
haps declared  themselves  to  be  infallible,  requiring  us  to  receive 
their  decisions  as  oracles  ;  or  have  they  not  rather  set  us  free 
from  all  bondage  to  rnen  ?  Did  their  work  too,  in  its  theoretic 
character  only,  spring  forth  at  once  complete  like  Minerva  from 
the  head  of  Jupiter  ;  or  was  it  not  rather  a  gradual  process,  in 
which  they  were  themselves  led  from  one  view  and  one  measure 
of  clearness  still  onward  to  another  ?  If  Protestantism  be  indeed 
the  blind  faith  of  authority,  an  unthinking  rehearsal  of  what  has 
been  handed  down,  let  us  then  confess  at  least  that  we  have  no 
reason  to  reproach  popery  on  this  score.  But  the  case  stands  I 
not  thus.  Protestantism  is  the  principle  of  movement,  of  progress 
in  the  history  of  the  Church  ;  progress,  not  such  as  may  go  be-  I 
yond  the  bible  and  Christianity,  but  such  as  consists  in  an  ever 


ISl 

extending  knoioledge  of  the  bible  itself,  and  an  ever   deepening 
appropriation  of  Christianity  as  the  power  of  a  divine  life,  which 
is  destined  to  make  all  tilings  new.     Our  Church  should  be  al- 
ways prepared  to  give  an  account  of  her  faith  with  joy,  and  to 
contend    manfully    against   all    human  distortions  of  the  truth, 
against  every    false   and  injurious    representation  of  the  gospel. 
Slie  dare  not,  unless  she  would  renounce  herself,  stiffen  into  life- 
less stability,  and  suffer  herself  to  be  left  in  the  rear  by  her  adver- 
saries in  the  way  of  scientific  movement.  Rather  she  must  explore  I 
still  farther  and  farther  the  inexhaustible  mines  of  God's  word,  and  I 
seek  a   more   full  and  free   representation  continually  of  her  own  ' 
principle  ;  remembering  always  that  there  is  stil!  beyond  measure 
much  to   be  learned,  and  that  she  can  never  become  complete  in 
herself,   except   as    her  knowledge  also   may   be  carried  to  the 
highest  point. 

But  the  proper  home  of  Protestant  theology  is  Germany,  and 
hence  we  may  say  that  those  who  refuse  to  make  account  of  the 
German  theology,  set  themselves  in  fact  against  the  progress  of 
Protestantism.  The  land  which  gave  birth  to  the  Reformation 
stands  pledged  by  that  movement  itself,  not  to  rest  till  the  great 
work  shall  have  been  made  complete  ;.  when  the  revelation  of  God 
in  Christ  shall  be  apprehended  in  full,  and  the  contents  of  faith 
shall  be  reduced  to  such  form  as  to  carry  with  them  also  the 
clearest  evidence  and  most  incontrovertible  certainty  in  the  way 
of  knowledge.  We  wish  not  to  depreciate  in  the  least  the  merits 
acquired  in  former  times,  by  the  Dutch  and  the  English  in  partic- 
ular, in  the  way  of  biblical  study,  critical,  exegetical  and  anti- 
quarian. The  German  is  always  disposed  rather  to  put  an  undue 
value  on  what  is  foreign,  and  has  long  since  appropriated  the  re- 
sulls  of  these  investigations,  and  worked  them  into  the  process  of 
his  own  cultivation.  But  what  is  all  this,  beside  the  gigantic 
creations  of  the  German  theology  !  All  its  heresies  cannot  destroy 
my  respect  for  it.  In  England  and  America  one  learns  first,  to 
prize  it  according  to  its  true  worth.  It  must  not  be  forgotten, 
that  even  the  German  Rationalism,  worthy  of  all  reprobation  as 
it  is,  gives  evidence,  at  least  in  its  better  forms,  of  an  extraordi- 
nary scientific  energy  aad  a  deep  interest  in  the  investigation  of 
truth,  from  which  we  are  authorized  to  draw  a  favorable  conclu- 
sion on  the  opposite  side.  For  only  an  archangel  can  become  a 
devil.  As  England  and  America  would  not  have  been  able  at  all 
to  produce  so  fearful  an  enemy  of  Christianity  as  David  Freder- 
ick Strauss,  so  must  they  have  been  much  less  able  to  meet 
him  with  a  proper  refutation  ;  and  I  shudder  at  times,  to  think  of 
the  desolation  his  writings  must  occasion,  if  they  should  corns  to. 


162 

be  much  read,  which  may  God  prevent,  in  this  country.*  It 
must  be  borne  in  mind  also  on  ihe  other  side,  that  l here  is  a  species 
of  orthodoxy,  by  no  means  rare,  which  rests  upon  the  foundation 
of  mere  convenience  or  inteilectual  indolence,  or  the  lowest  mo- 
tive possibly  of  self-intere-^t,  and  is  consequently  no  whit  better, 
yea  by  reason  of  such  hypocrisy  in  its  constitution  is  even  much 
worse,  than  open  and  honest  unbelief. 

If  we  look  into  Church  history,  we  shall  be  still  less  disturbed 
in  our  estimate  of  the  Geiman  theology,  by  the  heretical  elements 
that  belong    to  it,  since  they  must  appear  to   us  only  as  ne(>;ative 
conditions  of  a  new  doctrinal  conquest.    Thus  the  full  determina- 
tion and  clear,  close  definition  of  the  doctrines  of  the  trinity  and 
of  the  relation  of  the  two  natures  in  Christ,  as  exhibited  to  us  ia 
the  oecumenical  councils,  were  conditioned  throughout  by  a  sue* 
cession  of  heresies  in  the  direction  of  these  articles.  The  PelagianI 
error   must    serve,   in  the  hand  of  God,  to  unfold  and  e'slablishl 
more   profoundly,    through   Augustike,    the    doctrine  of  divine} 
grace  and    human   liberty.     At    the    Reformation   also,  heretical  j 
tendencies,  Socinianism,  Anubaptism,  Antinomianism,  &c.,  come« 
into  view  ;  as   in  a  period  of  such  vast  excitement  was  to  be  ex- 
pected.    They  wrought  with  salutary  force  on  the  development  of 
orthodox  Protestantism,  making  it  accessary  fitr  it  to  understand 
more  clearly   its  own  commission,  to  discriminate  more  closely 
its  proper  sphere,  and  to  tortitiy  it>elf  against  unauthorized  con- 
sequences and    various    misapprehensions   of  its  true  character. 
So  we  may   say,   that   the  later  heresies  of  Gerenany  are  but  the 
nagative  side  of  the  process  by  which  the  theology  of  thatcoun* 
try  has  been   advancing   towards    higher  and  more  solid  ground 
than  it  occupied  before.     In  this  view,  nothinsr  can   well  be  more 
unfair  than  to  confound   them  with  the  idea  of  German  theology 
itself.     Those  who  do  so,  oniy  show  iheir  own  ignorance  of  the 
actual  posture  of  things  in  the  German  Church  at  the  present  time. 
It  is  to  be  lamented  indeed,  that  the  representations  usually  exhi- 
bited of  German  theology  in  this  country,  by  those  who  pass  for 
its    friends    as   well   as   others,    have    been,    and    to    a    great 
extent    still   continue  to   be,  borrowc^d  from  a  period,  which  has 
been  fairly   surmounted  and  left  bei)ind  in  Germany  itself;  the 

*  I  was  informed  by  a  friend,  one  of  the  Fellows  of  Baliol  College 
in  Oxford,  that  two  prominent  young  clergymen  of  the  English  Church 
had  fallen  upon  the  Life  (f  Je.nis  by  Strauss,  and  were  so  overpowered 
by  it  as  absolutely  to  despair  of  all  scientific  help  in  opposition  to  it, 
with  the  resources  or  from  the  standpoint  of  the  English  theology  as  it 
has  sXood  thus  far. 


163 

period  of  the  older  Rationalism,  in  which  the  truth  micrht  be  said 
to  have  become  for  a  time  so  entangled  in  the  folds  of  error  as 
hardly  to  be  distmguished  from  it,  even  in  the  writin-s  of  its  most 
orthodox  defenders.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  ratio- 
nalistic  orthodoxy,  as  represented  for  instance  by  such  men  as 
iLRNESTi  and  MoRus,  has  indeed  been  made  the  vehicle,  by  which 
more  or  less  of  a  truly  pernicious  neological  spirit  has  been  intro- 
duced  into  the  American  Church,  in  the  name  of  German  theolo- 
gy. Undoubtedly  at  least,  rationalistic  elements  and  tendencies 
are  extensively  involved  in  the  religious  thinking  of  the  country 
even  under  what  are  regarded  often  as  its  most  orthodox  forms! 
Elements  and  tendencies  that  need  only  to  be  carried  out  consist- 
ently to  their  proper  consequences,  to  show  themselves  in  their 
true  light.  Elements  and  tendencies,  it  may  be  added,  which  the 
orthodox  German  theology  of  the  present  day,  all  slandered  as  it 
is,  would  reject  as  heretical  and  false,  no  less  decidedly  than  it 
rejects  the  entire  standpoint  of  a  Bretschxneider  himself 
Nothing,  I  repeat  it,  can  well  be  more  unfair,  than  to  confbund 
the  true,  positive  theology  of  Germany,  now  so  successfully 
asserting  its  spiritual  independence,  with  the  negative  heretical 
entanglements  of  a  former  time,  from  which  it  has  extricated  itself 
in  large  part  already,  and  is  in  the  way  of  extricatin-r  itself  still 
more  triumphantly,  we  may  hope,  in  time  to  come. 

It  is  not  to  be  desired  of  course,  that  the  mighty  struggles  of 
the  German  philosophy  and  theology  should  repeat  themselves,  in 
theti-  whole  compass,  in  this  country.     Rather  it  may  be  trusted 
that  the  victory  achieved  by  believing  science  in  Germany   over 
both  the  popular  and   speculative  forms  of  Rationalism,  will  re- 
dound  to  the  general  benefit  of  the  entire  Protestant  Church.     But 
what  we  wish  is  this,  that  the  spirit  of  the   German    theology  in  1 
Its  better  form,  as  now  predominant,  might  be  transplantecfinto  1 
our  midst,  and  with  proper  modification  of  course  and  adjustment 
tp  our  circumstances  made  to  enter  organically  into  our  relio-ious 
life.     Here  all  must  be  more  practical  ;  science  must  go  hand  in  1 
hand  with  the  proper  activities  of  the  Christian  life.     As  we  will '  i 
have  no  order  of  priests  specifically  difiJerent  from  the  laity,  so  we 
want  no  separate  order  of  theologians,  restricting  to  itself  all  sa- 
cred wisdom.     Such  a  union  of  the   German  scientific  and  Encr. 
hsh  practical  tendencies,  would  furnish  a  better  form  of  existence 
than  either  of  these  separately  taken  ;  which  it  might  seem  to  be 
the  vocation  of  America  in   particular  to  realize,  where  German 
elements,  in  the  Middle  and  Western  States  especially,  are  enter- 
ing  so  largely,   and   with  such  vast  increase  every  year,  into  the 
social  mass.     I  regret   not   in  the  least  the  modification,  which 


164  ' 

the  science  of  Germany,  and  its  theology  in  particular,  must  vhus 
imdergo,  to  be  turned  liere  to  any  good  account.  Rather  I  re- 
joice in  it,  with  all  my  heart.  For  decided  foe  as  I  am  to  the 
mere  utilitarian  principle,  I  am  well  aware  that  German  science, 
is  but  too  prone  to  run  to  an  extreme  in  the  other  direction,  and 
thus  to  lose  itself  in  unprofitable  speculations  and  subtleties  that 
come  in  the  end  to  nothing.*  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten,  that  a 
lar^e  proportion  of  the  German  emigration  has  been,  and  still  is, 
of  such  a  character,  that  we  must  wish  to  see  it  brought  under 
the  force  of  the  English  nationality  for  its  own  sake,  and  have 
reason  to  bless  God  for  the  favorable  change  it  has  been  made  to 
undero^o  by  this  means  in  part  already.  Bui  this  is  not  enough. 
May  we  not  trust  that  the  time  is  at  hand,  when  the  American 
Germany  shall  again  rise  from  the  ruins  of  its  own  nationality 
and  language,  purified  and  enriched  with  the  advantages  belong- 
ing to  the  English  character,  and  so  enter  upon  a  new  career  of 
its  own,  that  shall  be  fraught  with  lasting  benefit  to  the  whole 
country. 

Altoo-ether  there  seems  to  be  reason  to  believe,  that  the  way  is 
opening  at  least  towards  such  an  order  of  things  as  the  wants  of 
the  time  are  found  to  demand.  There  are  indications  certainly 
which  imply,  that  our  Church  relations  are  destined,  before  a 
great  while,  to  assume  in  one  way  or  another  a  new  form.  The 
system  of  thinking  which  has  hitherto  prevailed  is  coming  to  lose 
its  authority,  at  different  points.  Difficulties  are  causing  them- 
selves to  be  felt,  where  formerly  they  were  not  imagined  to  exist* 
Ideas  of  deep  and  far  reaching  import  are  steadily  working  their 
way,  where  only  a  few  years  since  perhaps  hardly  a  trace  of 
their  presence  was  to  be  found. 

The  absolute  despotism  of  the  Metaphysics  of  Locke,  is  in  a 
measure  broken.  In  spite  of  the  earnest  warnings  of  certain  in- 
fluential literary  organs,  the  general  unconditional  confidence  with 
which  the  system  was  formerly  held,  has  been  seriously  shaken  ; 
particularly,  it  would  seem,  in  New  England.  Let  us  liear  on 
this  point  Professor  Stowe,  of  Lane  Seminary,  who  will  not  at 
least  be  suspected  of  any  improper  leaning  towards  German  tran- 
scendentalism.    "The   metaphysics  of  Locke,"  he  tells  us,  "un- 


*  To  which  the  well  known  verse  in  G(ethe's  i^am/may  be  applied 
in  all  its  force  : 

.     .     .     .     Ein  Kerl,  der  speculirt, 

1st  wie  ein  Thier,  anf  diierrer  Heide 

Von  einem  bcesen  Geist  im  Krcis  herumgefuehrt, 

Und  rings  umher  liegt  schoenpr  gruene  Weide* 


165 

der  various  modifications,  have  prevailed  over  English  and  French 
mind,  the  most  etFeclive  mind  in  the  civilized  world,  for  more  than 
a  century  ;  a  long  period  certainly  in  an  active  and  thinking  age, 
for  any  one  system  of  mental  science  to  maintain  its  dominion. 
This  style  of  philosophizing  did  not  long  retain  its  ascendency 
among  the  Germanic  nations,  but  was  there  entirely  overthrown 
more  than  sixty  years  ago  :  and  for  about  twenty  five  years  past, 
there  has  been  a  gradual  but  certain  undermining  of  its  influence, 
in  France,  England,  and  the  United  States.  Almost  all  the  ar- 
dent, youthful,  investigating  mind  in  these  countries,  now  feels 
that  tlie  system  o/'Locke,  in  all  its  modifications,  is  meagre,  un- 
spiritual  and  unsatisfying,  and  is  anxiously  looking  for  some- 
thing better.^^*  This  change  has  been  produced  mainly,  by  the 
writings,  on  the  one  hand,  of  the  French  eclectic  Cousin,  who  is 
known  to  have  borrowed  largely  from  the  later  German  philoso- 
phy, and  by  the  works  of  Coleridge  and  Thomas  Carlyle  on 
the  other,  both  of  them  thoroughly  steeped  in  the  element  of  Ger« 
man  thought.  Coleridge,  a  noble,  fertile,  half  poetic,  half  phi- 
losophic spirit,  proceeded  from  the  school  of  Schelling,  which  is 
characterized  by  a  tendency  towards  the  objective  and  historical  ; 
whence  it  is  not  strange,  that  his  numerous  disciples  in  England 
sympathize  to  a  certain  extent  with  the  Puseyite  movement, 
though  not  so  as  to  yield  themselves  to  it  in  a  slavish  way.  One 
of  the  most  able  and  interesting  productions  called  forth  in  this 
connection  is  The  Kingdom  of  Christ  by  Fr»  Dan.  Maurice  of 
London.  Carlyle's  mind  is  more  of  the  negative,  critical  order, 
with  a  strong  leaning  to  pantheism  ;  as  is  seen  particularly,  in 
his  hero  worship,  which  reaches  even  to  Mohammed,  and  to- 
wards GffiTHE  rises  into  extravagance  itself.  By  the  uncommon 
richness  of  his  intellect  however,  and  his  keen  portraits,  he  exerts 
a  kindling  influence  on  youthful,  excitable  spirits,  and  at  all 
events  enlarges  the  field  of  their  vision  and  opens  before  them 
new  regions  of  thought.  He  sees  the  defects  of  our  time  indeed, 
and  of  our  present  Protestantism,  only  too  well ;  but  has  no  power 
to  direct  us  to  any  positive  remedy.  Hence  a  certain  character  of 
gloomy  dissatisfaction,  not  to  say  cynical  despair,  runs  through 
all  his  writings.  Still  the  knowledge  of  the  disease  must  always 
precede  its  cure  ;  and  in  this  view  the  widely  extended  influence 
of  this  energetic  writer  is  to  be  considered  favorable,  as  leading 
beyond  itself  to  something  that  may  be  better. 

In  theology  itself,  directly  or  indirectly,  Germany  is  coming  to 

*  The  Biblical  Repository  and  Classical  Review.      New  Yorko 
January  1845.  p.  65. 


166 

[be  more  and  more  widely  felt.  An  almost  absolute  authoritj^ 
having  been  exercised  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  in  Church  his* 
tory  by  the  learned  chancellor  of  Goettingen,  Mosheim,  long 
since  thrown  into  the  back  ground  in  his  own  country  by  those 
who  have  come  after  him,  the  works  of  Neander  and  Gieseler 
have  at  length  made  their  appeiarance  here  also  in  an  English 
dress.  These  it  is  known  are  distinguished  for  the  most  conscien- 
tious study  of  original  sources  ;  to  which  must  be  added  in  the 
case  of  the  first  the  genial  presence  of  a  deep  religious  spirit,  that 
lovingly  welcomes  the  manifestations  of  the  divine  lite  under  all 
forms,  and  causes  them  to  live  again  upon  the  historic  page  with 
magic  reproduction.  We  could  wish  only  it  were  pervaded  with 
deeper  Church  feeling.  The  History  of  the  Reformation  also  by 
Merle  D'Aubigne,  which  has  had  such  an  immense  circulation 
in  this  country,  is  properly  speaking,  in  its  main  parts,  a  skilful 
working  up  of  German  material,  particularly  the  '■^Geschichte  der 
tReformatiorC'^  by  Marheijnecke,  which  still  remains  superior  to 
it  in  the  estimation  of  all  competent  judges.*     Still  all  this,  as 

*  The  recent  production  of  the  celebrated  Genevan  Doctor,  trans- 
lated for  the  Biblical  Repository,  Jan.  1845,  under  the  title,  '•'' Lutheran- 
ism  and  the  Reform  ,-  their  Diversity  essential  to  their  Unity ^"^  can  make 
still  less  pretension  to  originality.  We  hold  this  essay  important  on 
account  of  its  catholic  spirit  and  tendency,  and  for  the  acknowledgement 
it  contains  that  the  question  concerning  the  Church  has  now  become 
the  first  question,  "the  greatest,  the  all  engrossing  subject."  We  have 
been  really  surprised  however,  to  see  how  Dr.  Merle  allows  himself  to 
plunder  German  authors.  One  idea  is  taken  from  the  first  volume  of 
Twesten's  Dogmatik  ;  three  ideas  are  borrowed  from  Lange's  academ- 
ical inaugural  address  at  Zurich  ;  all  the  rest  are  found  in  the  well 
known  book  of  Gcebel  on  the  "Z7mon."  Here  we  meet  the  representa- 
tion for  instance,  that  Lutheranism  places  the  material  principle  fore- 
most, the  Reformed  Church  the  formal  ;  that  the  first  has  pioceeded  on 
the  maxim  of  holding  fast  all  that  is  not  expressly  condemned  by  God's 
word,  the  last  on  the  maxim  of  rejecting  all  for  which  no  explicit  au- 
thority is  to  be  found  in  the  bible;  that  the  work  of  reformation  with 
the  first  was  carried  on  prevailingly  in  a  doctrinal  and  theological  way, 
while  with  the  last  it  took  also  a  practico-moral  and  political  form  ; 
that  the  first  was  aristocratic  and  monarchial,  the  last  democratic  and 
republican  ;  that  the  first  showed  itself  exclusive  and  in  the  end  hostile 
to  the  Reformed  Church,  while  this  last  was  always  disposed  to  a 
union  with  Lutheranism,  but  perseveringly  opposed  to  all  peace  with 
Rome  ;  &c.  &c.  Even  the  examples,  p.  139,  148,  and  160,  are  copied 
from  Gcebel. — All  this  is  mentioned,  not  to  depreciate  at  all  the  Gene- 
van theologian,  but  only  to  show  how  ready  the  most  distinguished 
French  writers  are  to  take  lessons  in  the  school  of  German  learning, 
and  to  recommend  their  example  to  imitation  in  this  country.  Why 
should  we  undervalue  in  German,  what  we  are  ready  to  laud  as  sxhib- 


167 

compared  with  the  wealth  of  the  German  literature,  is  aut  a  sniaU' 
beginning.  It  would  be  easy  to  name  more  than  a  score  of  new 
works,  ol"  exe^etical  and  dogmatic  character  in  particular,  which 
are  full  as  worthy  to  be  translated  as  those  which  have  been  men- 
tioned, and  some  of  them  much  more  so.  A  special  society  has 
b6.>en  formed  in  French  Switzerland  for  transplanting  the  belter 
theological  literature  of  Germany  into  that  country,  which  has  al- 
ready entered  upon  its  work  with  good  success.  Much  more 
might  we  look  for  some  institution  of  the  sort  here,  and  that  no 
such  measure  has  been  thought  of  only  shows  how  little  interest 
the  Germans  of  this  country  take  in  the  monuments  which  reflect 
the  greatest  honor  on  their  own  race.  They  are  put  to  shame  in 
Shis  respect,  even  by  the  English  themselves.  The  best  literary! 
institutions  of  the  land  are  coming  to  understand,  that  no  modernl 
education  can  be  complete  which  does  not  include  some  acquain-j 
tance  with  German  learning,  and  thmk  it  necessary  accordingly! 
to  make  some  provision  for  the  cultivation  of  it  in  their  academical! 
course.  The  most  distinguished  theologians  in  the  country,  such 
as  Stuart,  Hodge,  Robinson,  Stowe,  &c.,.  have  bestowed  their 
careful  study  on  the  theological  literature  of  Germany,  and  ac- 
knowledge themselves  under  lasting  obligations  to  its  help.  This 
study  ought  not  indeed  to  be  confined  simply  to  the  critical,  isa- 
gogical,  and  antiquarian  departments,  which  some  appear  to  con- 
sider most  valuable  and  safe  ;  though  in  fact  they  have  been  oc- 
cupied to  a  great  extent  by  Rationalism.  We  need  to  have 
rather,  in  larger  measure,  the  spirit  and  the  zt^ea^  of  the  later 
GcVman  theology.  We  need  to  fortify  ourselves  in  this  way 
against  errors,  and  tendencies  to  error,  to  which  we  are  already 
exposed.  Against  the  rationalism  of  the  abstract  understanding 
on  the  one  hand,.and  a  disposition  to  pantheistic  sentimentalism  and 
reverie  on  the  other,  we  can  have  no  better  protection  in  the  way 
of  science  than  is  here  placed  within  our  reach.  In  no  other 
quarter,  have  these  false  forms  of  thought  been  met  and  vanquish- 
ed in  the  same  thorough  style.  Germany  has  produced  the! 
most  pious  as  well  as  the    most  godless  philosophers  and  theolo- 1 

ited  to  us  at  second  hand  in  French  !  What  confidence  is  to  be  reposed 
in  the  judgment  of  those  who  undertake  to  proscribe  the  entire  theolo- 
gical literature  of  Germany,  as  worthless  and  full  of  peril  only  to  the 
Church,  without  having  read  perhaps  a  volume  of  it  themselves,  while 
the}'^  suffer  the  same  material  to  be  smuggled  in  upon  us  in  any  quan- 
tity from  a  different  quarter,  as  profitable  and  wholesome  in  the  highest 
degree  1  The  French  theological  literature,  such  as  it  is,  owes  nearly 
all  its  value  to  thp  use  of  German  helps  ;  and  when  all  is  done,  it  may 
be  proaounced  inimeasur?.bly  poor  and  meagre,  as  compared  with  the 
theological  literature  of  Germany  itself. 


168 

gians  ;  those  whose  influence  has  been  the  most  salutary,  as  welt 
as  those  who  seem  to  have  been  born  only  to  work  mischief  and 
death.  The  greatest  demerit  ofthe  land  and  its  liighest  glory,  are 
found  here  in  close  conjunction.  So  it  was  with  Greece,  where 
the  Sophists  appear  in  intimate  connection  with  a  Socrates,  and 
along  with  the  followers  of  Plato  the  followers  oi  Epicurus. 
One  tendency  is  always  naturally  coupled  with  another,  as  its 
own  opposite. 

This  then  is  one  desideratum,  in  our  circumstances.  Afresh, 
vigorous  theology,  in  which  the  most  decided  faith  might  appear 
in  union  vvith  the  most  free  and  thorough  scientific  culture,  could 
not  fail  to  advance  us  to  a  new  position,  and  to  give  us  a  triumph- 
ant advantage  over  infidelity  and  popery  and  semi-popery  in  all 
their  forms. 

This  however  of  itself  is  not  of  course  enough.  We  need  also 
a  change  in  our  practical  Church  state,  an  antidote  to  the  sect 
plague.  What  is  first  wanted  ir!  this  direction  is  the  conviction, 
that  the  present  distracted  condition  of  Protesiantisra  is  contradic- 
tory to  the  idea  of  the  Church,  whose  normal  character  necessa- 
rily includes  catholicity  and  unity,  as  well  as  an  earnest  sacred, 
grief  on  this  account.  Nor  have  we  any  right  to' console  our- 
selves with  the  fancy  of  a  vague  spiritual  unity,  in  the  case.  It 
belongs  to  the  inward  always,  if  it  have  life,  to  manifest  itself  in 
an  outward  way.  The  soul  must  form  itself  a  body,  as  its  appro- 
priate organ.  Visibility  lies  necessarily  in  the  conception  of  the 
Church,  which  is  the  body  of  Christ  ;  the  mark  of  unity  coi  oe- 
quently  must  also  clothe  itself  in  an  outward  form.  The  unity 
we  are  to  seek  must  be  no  dead  sameness  indeed,  but  such  as  is 
full  of  life,  one  and  endlessly  manifold  at  the  same  time.  Here 
again  the  case  requires,  not  that  we  should  go  back  to  the  old, 
but  that  we  should  go  forward  rather  with  all  that  has  been  won 
by  Protestantism,  in  the  way  of  developed  subjectivity.  Outward, 
unity  does  not  require  one  visible  head,  as  the  pope,  who  is  called 
antichrist  for  this  very  pretension.  This  place  belongs  to  Christ 
alone,  and  he  needs  no  vicarius,  since  he  is  himself  present  in 
his  own  body.  In  the  apostolic  age,  and  long  after,  the  unitv  of 
the  Church  was  maintained,  without  any  such  human  chief  bishop. 
Even  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  Gregory  the  Great,  it  is 
known,  wrote  to  the  patriarch  of  Constantmople  :*  "Certe  Petrus 
Apostolorum  primus,  membrum  sanctae  et  universalis  Ecclesiae, 
Pau/us,  Andreas,  loannes,  qtiid  aliud  quam  singvlarivm  sunt 
plebium  capita,  et  tamen  sub  uno  capite  omnes  membra  'V  And 

*  lib.  V.  epist.  18. 


169  / 

m  another  letter  rf  *'Ego  autern  fidenter  dico,  quia  quisquis  se 
universalem  Sacerdotem  vocat,  vel  vocari  desiderat,  in  elatione 
sue  Antlchristim  praecurrit,  quia  superbiendo  se  caeteris  prae- 
ponit.  Nee  dispari  superbia  ad  errorem  ducitur,  quia  sicut  per- 
versus  ille  Deus  videri  vult  super  omnes  homines  ;  ita  quisquis 
iste  est,  qui  solus  Sacerdos  appellari  appetite  super  reUquos  Sacer- 
dotes  se  exlolUt."  Neither  is  a  single  organization  absolutely 
necessary,  as  the  Puseyites  dream.  The  unity  must  proceed 
from  within,  from  the  deepest  ground  of  the  religious  life  itself; 
and  then  it  will  provide  for  itself  a  suitable  external  form.  What 
this  will  be,  we  are  not  prepared  now  of  course  to  say.  In  any 
case  however,  a  living  outward  intercommunication  must  come  to 
hold  among  all  Christian  Churches,  such  as  may  furnish  practica 
proof  that  they  are  not  only  one  spirit,  but  one  body  also,  that  is 
the  body  of  Jesus  Christ. 

What  cheering  indications  now,  the  guaranty  of  a  better  future 
in  this  direction,  can  the  time  be  said  to  bring  to  our  view  ? 
There,  to  be  sure,  in  England  and  America,  is  the  mighty  move- 
ment of  Puseyism.  With  this  however  we  can  make  no  common 
cause  ;  if  for  no  other  reason,  yet  simply  as  non-episcopal  Protes- 
tants, whom  it  unchurches  without  ceremony  altogether  ;  on 
which  account  too,  it  can  never  find  much  favor  on  the  continent 
in  Europe.  It  has  been  already  shown,  in  the  way  of  objection 
to  the  system,  that  it  has  no  proper  sense  of  the  world-historical 
importance  of  Protestantism  in  its  origin  and  later  development. 
It  leads  backwards  rather  than  forwards.  Still  it  must  be  count- - 
ed  on  the  other  hand  a  salutary  fermentation.  It  has  served  to 
bring  up  again,  with  powerful  interest,  the  great  questions  of  the 
Church,  Catholicity  and  Unity.  These  questions  belong  not  ex- 
clusively to  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
they  should  be  identified  at  all  with  the  idea  of  Episcopacy.  They 
challenge  the  attention  of  the  entire  Christian  communion.  We 
may  make  room  for  them,  and  yield  ourselves  to  their  power, 
without  surrendering  ourselves  in  so  doing  to  the  errors  of  the 
false  tendency  with  which  they  stand  connected  in  the  Oxford 
Episcopal  school.  The  lorce  of  them  has  already  begun  to  be 
felt  indeed,  in  some  measure,  in  other  denominations.  The  dif- 
ferent sections  of  orthodox  Protestantism  have  not  by  any  means 
now  the  same  quiet  confidence  in  their  own  position,  as  the  jieplus 
j^Z^m  of  Church  perfection,  the  unimprovable  absolute  of  Chris- 
tianity itself,  which  they  had  only  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago.  It  is 
coming'  to  be   felt  that  the  present  posture  of  things  cannot  be 

t  ad  Mauricium  Aug.  lib.  VII.  ep.33. 

15* 


rested  in  as  permanent  and  ultimate,  and  along  with  this  is  waking 
the  desire  for  something  better.  Single  voices  are  heard  here 
and  there,  from  the  bosom  of  the  Evangehcal  Church,  calHng  for 
a  true  union  among  all  who  belong  to  the  household  of  faith,  in 
spirit,  soul  and  body,  and  find  a  lively  echo  in  many  a  breast- 
It  is  to  me  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  and  encouragement,  to 
find  among  these  the  man  with  whom  I  am  called  to  labor  as  a 
colleague  in  the  same  institution  ;  with  whom  altogether,  not- 
withstanding the  entirely  independent  and  widely  separate  spheres 
of  our  previous  history,  God  be  praised,  that  I  have  been  enabled,, 
to  my  own  no  small  surprise,  so  fully  to  sympathize,  in  the  most 
weighty  points,  from  the  first  moment  of  our  acquaintance.* 
True,  appearances  are  not  such  at  present  as  to  encourage  the 
idea,  that  a  general  union  will  soon  take  place.  The  differences 
which  prevail  in  doctrine,  government  and  worship,  and  the  ab- 
stract view  too  generally  taken  of  the  relation  of  Christianity  to. 
the  world,  stand  hopelessly  in  the  way.  Rather,  division  threatens 
to  go  still  farther  ;  as  the  question  of  slavery,  to  say  nothing  of 
other  difficulties,  is  fastening  itself  with  resistless  force  upon  the 
heart  of  the  Church.  Episcopal  Methodism  is  already  rent  by  it 
into  two  great  sections,  which  are  not  likely  soon  to  be  reconciled. 
Other  denominations,  it  is  to  be  feared,  will  be  gradually  in- 
volved in  similar  division.  At  this  very  time,  there  are  strong  in- 
dications that  the  great  Presbyterian  body,  o^hoth  schools,  will 
very  soon  find  it  necessary  to  meet  the  question  in  its  whole 
length  and  breadth  ;  and  already  the  most  serious  apprehensions 
are  entertained  of  a  new  ecclesiastical  rupture,  on  its  account. 
In  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  on  other  grounds,  as  all 
know,  there  is  still  less  show  of  peace.  The  mournful  scandal  of 
the  Onderdonk  trial,  has  brought  the  quarrel  between  the 
puseyite  and  evangelical  parties  to  its  climax.  The  puseyites  are 
now  in  desperate  plight,  not  only  by  reason  of  the  moral  wreck 
of  their  principal  leader  in  the  view  of  the  public,  but  still  more 
as  they  are  drawn  into  collision  with  their  own  principles  ;  since 
they  declare  the  sentence  of  suspension  which  has  taken  place  to 


*  [A  very  long  note  occurs  here  in  the  German  work,  containing  a 
special  reference  to  the  translator's  sermon  on  Catholic  Unity,  preached 
at  the  opening-  of  the  Convention  of  the'  Reformed  Dutch  and  German 
Reformed  Churches,  Harrisburg,  Aug.  8, 1.811,  with  a  series  of  extracts 
exhibiting  its  principal  thoughts.  For  various  reasons,  it  has  been 
considered  best  to  attach  the  whole  sermon  to  the  present  publication, 
in  the  way  of  an  appendix ;  to  which  of  course  it  is  enough  at  this 
place  to  refer.  The  original  note  closes  with  a  notice  also  of  the  last 
chapter  in  particular  of  the  second  edition  of  the  "./?72>rums  jBenc/t,"  as. 
unfolding  the  same  general  views.    The  Translator.] 


be  unjust,  though  passed  by  a  decided  majority  of  their  own 
bishops,  those  anointed  and  inviolable  bearers  oi"  the  apostolical 
succession,  wronging  thus  in  heart  at  least  the  duty  of  canonical 
obedience.  The  appeal  of  Dr.  Seabury  to  the  example  of 
Fenelon,  (si  parva  licet  componere  magnis,)  who  himself 
read  in  his  Church  the  papal  bull  directed  against  his  own 
person,  is  here  of  no  avail.  For  Fenelon  submitted  him- 
self truly  to  the  judgment  of  the  Church,  acknowledged  the  faults 
charged  upon  his  work  Explication  des  Maximes  des  Saintes, 
forbade  the  reading  of  it  in  his  diocese,  and  burned  all  the  copies 
of  it  he  could  reach,  in  a  court  belonging  to  his  archiepiscopal 
palace,  with  his  own  hand.  This  the  puseyites  could  not  easily 
be  brought  to  do  in  the  case  of  their  Tracts  for  the  times  ;  and  in 
the  present  instance  they  even  proclaim  the  suspended  Onder- 
DONK  openly  to  be  their  bishop  siill  ;  so  that  even  that  outward 
subjection  to  the  decision  of  the  court  of  bishops,  for  which  Dr. 
Seabury  takes  credit  to  himself  in  his  noted  sermon,  amounts  at 
last  to  nothing.  Whether  they  will  now  go  over  in  mass  to 
Rome,  or  form  a  Church  of  their  own,  remains  to  be  seen.  At 
all  events  the  matter  has  gone  so  far,  that  they  must  either  bend, 
or  break. 

Still  all  these  storms  that  gather  in  the  horizon,  will  but  serve 
fully  to  purify  the  atmosphere.  The  disease  must  pass  through 
its  last  crisis,  before  it  can  be  thoroughly  cured.  The  growth  of 
division  will  cause  the  longing  after  Christian  union,  to  break 
fojth  at  last  with  irrepressible  force.  The  mighty  advances  of 
the  Romish  Church,  stalking  forward  through  the  motley  crowd 
of  our  sects,  in  proud  confidence  of  victory,  as  a  single  man, 
though  in  very  questionable  alliance  with  the  most  rank  political 
demagoguism,  must  in  the  end  compel  the  Protestants  to  take  an- 
other position,  in  order  that  they  may  save  themselves.  The 
conflict  is  waxing  more  earnest  every  day.  Who  would  have 
thought  twenty  years  ago,  that  popery  was  ever  to  acquire  im- 
portance in  the  land  of  freedom?*  Now  according  to  the  MetrO" 

*  [I  remember  very  well,  that  when  the  venerable  Dr.  Alexander, 
of  Princeton,  less  than  twenty  years  ago,  solemnly  warned  the  students  ■ 
under  his  care  of  the  danger  that  was  to  be  expected  from  this  quarter, 
exhorting  us  to  prepare  for  the  conflict  with  Rome  as  the  ^'•reaif contro- 
versy of  the  American  Church,  his  words  to  most  were  very  much  like 
empty  wind.  And  yet  how  prophetical  they  have  proved  to  be  alrea- 
dy !  What  a  change  in  fact  have  not  the  last  five  years  only  produced, 
in  the  posture  of  Romanism  in  this  country  relatively  to  both  Church: 
and  State  1  The  numericid  increase  of  the  body  is  no  proper  measure 
of.  its  actual  gain.     By  far  the  largest  amount  of  progress  is  in  the 


172 

politan  Catholic  Almanac,  for  the  year  1845,  it  embraces  in  ttie- 
United  States,  a  population  of  800,000  souls  ;  21  episcopal  dio- 
ceses with  one  apostolical  vicarship  ;  675  churches,  709  priests  ; 
28  male,  and  63  lemale  seminaries  ;  94  orphan  houses  and  other 
benevolent  institutions  ;  a  multitude  of  convents  and  religious 
associations  ;  as  Jesuits,  Redemptorists,  Lazarists,  Augustinians, 
Dominicans,  Eudists,  the  Society  of  the  Precious  Blood,  the 
Brethren  of  St.  Joseph  ;  also,  Sisters  of  Charity,  Carmelitesses, 
Nuns  of  the  Visitation  of  Mary,  Nuns  of  Loretto,  Dominican 
Nuns,  Ladies  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame, 
S-isters  of  Providence,  Ursuline  Nuns,  Ladies  of  the  Most  Sacred' 
Heart,  &c.  There  appear  among  us  besides  ten  weekly  and 
three  monthly  Roman  Catholic  periodicals  ;  to  which  must  be 
added  now  the  Quarterly  of  Brownson,  a  man  of  much  reading 
and  ready  pen,  whose  accession  to  the  Church  has  recently  been 
hailed  with  no  small  triumph.  Romanism  directs  its  eye  mainly 
towards  the  West,  well  knowing  that  this  must  hereafter  give 
law  to  the  whole  laird.  "  Give  us  the  West,"  says  one  of  its 
bishops,  "and  we  will  soon  take  care  of  the  East*" 

For  the  final  issue  of  the  conflict  we  have  no  fear;  since  the 
Lord  of  hosts  reigns  supreme.  Let  all  human  work  fall  to  pieces, 
that  the  work  of  God  may  have  the  more  free  scope.  In  the  end, 
all  must  advance  the  glory  of  his  name,  and  the  welfare  of  his 
children.  We  will  not  be  dismayed  then  at  the  gathering  con- 
flict. We  will  carry  on  the  sacred  war  in  word  and  in  life,  keep- 
form  of  preparation  for  action,  that  is  expected  to  tell  with  wide  effect 
hereafter.  It  is  actually  startling,  to  find  in  what  broad,  comprehensive 
and  far  reachinn;  style,  the  policy  of  the  system  is  revealing  itself  on 
ail  sides,  and  with  how  much  quiet,  unaffected  confidence,  it  is  pursu- 
ing a  course  that  looks  confessedly  to  nothing  less  tlian  the  spiritual 
conquest  of  the  whole  land.  Within  a  very  short  time,  the  Catholic 
press  has  gained  immensely  in  point  of  respectability  and  power  ;  and 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  literary  weight  of  the  system  will  be 
made  to  press  upon  us,  in  the  course  of  the  next  ten  years,  in  a  way  of 
which  few  have  begun  to  dream.  Most  assuredl}'-  the  American 
Church  has  need  now,  to  consider  well  the  danger  that  is  fast  gather- 
incr  upon  her  in  this  direction.  But  alas,  how  few  seem  to  understand 
v/hatthe  times  require,  or  to  be  prepared  for  the  emergency  which  is  at 
hand.  How  few  show  themselves  qualified  to  go  to  the  graund  of  the 
controversy,  and  to  deal  with  it  in  its  principles.  Here  precisely  is  our 
oreatest  danger.  For  one  who  has  only  begun  to  comprehend  ?ome- 
fhing  of  the  force  of  the  ideas  that  are  involved  in  the  conflict,  and  who 
can  feel  at  all  the  nature  of  the  historical  crisis  to  which  we  have  come,  . 
itis  truly  alarming,  to  consider  the  stylo  in  which  the  championship 
&^  Protestantism  among  us  is  tao  generally  conducted.-— Translator.], 


173 

ing  always  in  view  the  honor  of  God  and  the  interest  of  the 
Church  ;  forgetting  not  our  own  faults  in  our  zeal  against  those 
of  others  ;  not  with  the  rough  weapons  of  the  flesh  in  the  way  of 
wild  fanaticism,  but  with  the  weapons  of  the  Spirit,  the  sword  of 
God's  word,  the  breastplate  of  faith,  and  the  helmet  of  hope. 
Let  it  be  a  war  of  extermination  against  all  error  and  division, 
but  a  conflict  of  prayer  at  the  same  time  and  love  towards  the 
souls  of  the  blinded  enemies  of  the  Church,  to  win  them  if  possible 
to  eternal  life.  Then  shall  we  be  soldiers  in  the  sense  of  Paul, 
worthy  followers  of  this  spiritual  hero.  Then  shall  we  too  at 
last  be  adorned  with  the  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  glori- 
fied apostle  has  long  since  received  from  the  judge,  who  holds 
life  and  death,  heaven  and  hell,  in  his  almiirhty  hand. — As  mem- 
bers of  a  particular  division  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  we  must  be 
true  to  the  patrimony  of  our  Hathers,  conscientiously  turn  to  pro- 
fit the  pound  entrusted  to  our  care,  and  advance  with  free,  gen- 
uine historical  progress  as  the  wants  of  the  time  may  require.  To 
forsake  the  Church  communion  in  which  we  have  been  born, 
naturally  and  spiritually,  without  urgent  reason,  is  base  perfidy. 
Let  us  labor  then  witliin  our  own  denomination  and  for  it,  as 
knowing  that  God  has  given  us  here  our  own  special  commission 
to  fulfil.  We  will  manifest,  in  this  very  way,  our  Church  feeling 
and  regard  for  history.  Only,  let  all  be  subordinated  to  the  in- 
terest of  the  general  kingdom  of  God.  If  we  have  any  right  idea 
of  the  Church,  as  the  communion  of  the  redeemed  transcending 
all  limits  of  time  and  space,  we  shall  feel  that  we  cannot  extend 
ctH'-  view  too  far.  We  may  not  exclude  the  Romanists  them- 
selves. Let  them  go  on  to  treat  us  as  lost  heretics  ;  we  must 
still  return  good  for  evil.  We  believe  confidently  that  even  for 
this  Church,  which  once  thrust  out  our  fathers  with  terrible  ban 
from  its  bosom,  the  Lord  has  still  great  things  in  store.  Why 
should  we  despair  of  another  reformation,  as  impossible  in  the 
case  of  its  vast  and  powerful  communion  ?  This  is  wished  and 
hoped  for,  by  many  even  of  its  own  best  members.*     Protestant- 


*  [Who  can  say,  what  vast  results  may  not  yet  proceed  from  the 
agitation,  which  is  going  forward  in  the  German  Roman  Catholic 
Church  at  this  very  time,  in  connection  with  the  case  of  priest  Ronge, 
and  the  stirring  example  set  by  the  congregation  at  Schneidemuehl  ? 
All  accounts  concur  in  representing  the  excitement  to  be  immense,  and 
not  likely  soon  to  subside.  The  idea  of  a  separation  from  the  head- 
ship of  Rome,  with  a  general  retention  at  the  same  time  of  the  catholic 
system,  is  taking  hold  of  many  minds,  in  every  direction,  with  extra- 
ordinary power.  Steps  indeed  have  begun  to  be  taken,  it  would  seem^ 
towards  the  organization  of  churches  on  this  plan  in  a  number  of  the 
ijQipst  prominent  places,  Berlin,   Leipsic,  Breslau,  Dresden,  Elberfeld  j. 


1T4 

ism  cannot  be  consummated,  without  CathcJIicism  ;  not  in  the 
way  of  railing  back  to  the  past,  but  as  coming  ^nto  reconcih'ation 
with  it  finally  in  a  higher  position,  in  which  all  pist  errors  shall 
be  left  behind  whether  protestant  or  catholic,  and  the  truth  of 
both  tendencies  be  actualized,  as  the  power  of  one  and  the  same 
life,  in  the  full  revelation  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  consum- 
mation of  both,  will  be  at  the  same  lime  their  union.  It  is  writ- 
ten, John  10  :  16,  "There  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  Shepherd" — 
a  word  that  can  be  accomplished  in  its  full  and  absolute  sense, 
only  when  all  confessional  antagonisms  slialt  come  to  an  end. 

It  is  an  interesting  and  beautiful  thought,  (to  be  felt  indeed  only 
by  those  who  have  some  sense  for  the  philosophy  of  Church  his- 
tory,) by  which  the  three  most  conspicuous  apostles,  Peter, 
Paul  and  John  are  made  to  stand  as  the  representatives  in  char- 
acter of  three  great  stages  of  development,  through  which  the 
Church  is  to  be  carried  to  its  final  consummation.  We  meet  the 
idea  even  among  some  of  the  old  theologians,  particularly  with 
the  prophetic  monk  Joachim  of  Flore,  in  the  twelfth  century.* 
Among  the  moderns  H.  STEFFENs(in  his  Four  Norwegians,)  and 
H.  E.  ScHMiEDER,  (in  his  Introduetion  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,) 
again    bring   it  into  view.      Very  recently  however,  it  has  been 


&c.  If  only  the  Catholic  Church  in  Germany  might  be  severed  from 
Rome,  what  vast  bearings  the  event  must  have,  at  the  present  crisis, 
on  the  history  of  Christianity  !  Still,  the  whole  movement  as  yet  needs 
to  be  regarded  and  spoken  of  with  caution..  We  know  too  little  of  its 
moral  constitution,  its  secret  principles  and  reigning  spirit,  to  speak  of 
it  with  much  confidence.  Let  us  hope,  that  we  shall  soon  be  permitted 
to  look  upon  it,  through  the  medium  of  a  proper  critical  review,  on  the 
part  of  the  evangelical  press  in  Germany  itself.  It  is  certainly  very 
precipitate,  to  say  the  least,  for  our  religious  papers,  on  the  authority 
of  the  notoriously  rationalistic  correspondence  of  the  N.  York  Schnell- 
post,  to  glorifiy  John  Ronge  at  once  as  a  second  Hussor  Luther.  His 
second  letter  furnishes  painful  evidence,  that  he  stands  in  the  element 
of  a  widely  different  spirit.  To  say  nothing  of  the  air  of  self-reliance 
which  runs  through  the  whole  article,  what  must  we  think  of  the 
Christianity  of  a  man,  who  can  say,  '^Rdimanity  is  the  Church  of  God, 
and  in  it  rules  the  Spirit ;  to  this  Church  I  am  sworn.*'  f  Is  not  this 
the  very  cant  of  Rationalism  itself]  The  whole  movement  however  is 
deeply  interesting,  in  this  view  at  least,  that  it  serves  to  show  the  force, 
with  which  the  spirit  of  the  age,  even  in  the  Church  of  Rome  itself,  is 
struggling  towards  a  new  order  of  life.  In  such  a  case  it  is  not  strange 
that  much  should  seem  dark  and  chaotic.  But  the  Spirit  of  God,' we 
may  trust,  is  moving  on  the  face  of  the  deep.     Translator.] 

*  Compare  on  him,  Neander's  Kirchengeschichte,  Band  V,  Abth.  l*- 
1^..291ff. 


175 

clothed  with  new  ppeticaliy  scientific  interest  by  the  greatest  living 
philosopher  ;  ^yhd  m  the  evening  of  his  days  has  again  come 
forih,  like  the  )Bun  from  behind  the  clouds,  and  is  now  pouring 
the  last  splendid  iays  ofhisgenius  from  Berlin,  over  the  philosoph- 
ical horizon  of  Germany.  Sciielling  closes  his  Philosophy  of 
Revelation,  promised  in  vain  for  twenty  years  past  as  the  comple- 
ment and  crown  of  the  negative  system  published  in  his  youth, 
with  a  section  on  the  great  periods  of  the  Church.  So  far  as  I 
can  recollect  from  his  lectures,  this  is  the  amount  of  his  view. 
The  Lord  chose  three  favorite  disciples,  who  are  to  be  regarded 
as  types  at  the  same  time  of  as  many  stages  of  development  for 
the  Church.  Peter,  the  apostle  of  the  Father,  the  New  Testament 
Moses,  or  the  representative  of  the  principle  of  authority  and  law, 
answers  in  his  personality  and  form  of  doctrine  to  the  first  sta- 
dium of  Church  history,  the  period  of  Catholicism,  flowing  over  in 
the  end  to  popery  itself.  Paul,  the  apostle  of  the  Son,  the  New 
Testament  Elias,  the  representative  of  the  principle  of  movement, 
and  of  the  free  justifying  power  of  faith,  is  the  type  of  Protestant- 
ism. Both  stages,  separately  taken,  are  onesided  and  incomplete. 
The  principles  of  authority  and  freedom,  law  and  gospel,  hope 
and  faith,  must  at  last  become  united.  The  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  it  is  true,  has  like  Peter  denied  her  Lord  by  a  threefold 
gradation  in  the  way  of  apostacy  ;  but  she  will  one  day  yet  go 
out  and  weep  bitterly.  Then  will  the  Lord  turn  towards  her  with 
a  look  of  compassion,  and  restore  her  again  to  confidence  and 
trust.  This  will  be,  at  the  same  time,  the  epoch  of  the  final  re- 
conciliation of  both  communions.  So  united,  they  will  form  the 
ideal  Church,  whose  type  is  exhibited  to  us  in  the  disciple  that  lay 
on  Jesus'  bosom,  the  apostle  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  apostle  of  that 
love  which  shall  never  fail,  the  law  of  freedom  made  perfect  and 
complete  in  the  gospel.  To  him  corresponds,  under  the  old 
economy,  John  the  Baptist,  in  whose  person  the  rigor  of  the  law 
and  consolation  of  prophecy  are  united.  As  he  immediately 
preceded  the  first  appearance  of  Christ,  like  the  dawn  of  morning, 
so  also  the  revivification  of  the  spirit  of  John  the  evangelist,  in  the 
Church,  will  open  the  way  directly  for  his  second  coming,  to  es- 
tablish the  Church  absolute  and  triumphant,  in  which  law  and 
freedom  shall  both  be  perfect  in  one,  and  the  results  of  all  previous 
development  appear  conserved  as  the  constituent  elements  of  a 
higher  and  more  glorious  state.  To  this  refers  the  mystical 
sense  of  Christ's  word,  John  21  :  22,  where  he  speaks  enigmati- 
cally of  John's  tarrying  till  his  second  coming.  — Such  is  an  out- 
line of  this  prophetical  speculation  ofScnELLiNG.  We  mean  not 
of  course,  to  endorse  it  as  correct ;  though  it  is  certainly  inge- 
nious and  beautiful.     But  putting  out  of  view  all  that  may  seem 


176 

to  be  simply  fancy,  it  still  turns  at  least  upon  a  great  and  most 
consoling  truth  as  it  regards  the  Church,  to  which,  though  in 
quite  different  form,  the  faith  and  hope  of  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  Christians  have  been  directed.* 

May  the  Nineteenth  Century,  by  a  magnificent  Union,  con- 
summate the  ever  memorable  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  !  May 
the  New  World,  enwombing  the  life  spirit  of  almost  every  nation 
of  the  Old,  prove  the  birth  soil  of  this  new  era  for  the  Church  ! 
As  the  distractions  of  Protestantism  have  been  most  painfully  ex- 
perienced here,  so  here  also  may  the  glorious  work  of  briuiiing 
all  the  scattered  members  of  Christ's  body  into  true  catholic  union 
be  carried  forward  with  the  greatest  zeal  and  soonest  crowned 
with  the  great  festival  of  reconciliation,  transmitting  its  blessings, 
in  grateful  love,  to  the  world  we  honor  and  love  as  our  general 
fatherland. 


*  The  reader  is  referred  to  substantially  the  same  thought,  presented 
by  the  celebrated  Church  historian,  Neander,  at  the  close  of  the  third 
edition  of  his  History  of  the  Planting  of  the  Christian  Church. 


177 


GENERAL  SUMMARY. 

The  following  Theses  have  been  added  by  the  author,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  presenting-  any  new  matter,  but  simply  to  furnish  a  clear 
synopsis  of  the  leading  thoughts  exhibited  in  the  treatise  itself.  Of 
course,  to  be  fully  understood,  each  proposition  must  be  examined  in 
the  light  of  the  connections  in  which  it  comes  forward  in  the  general 
work.  If  any  should  chose  to  disregard  this  admonition,  and  undertake 
to  hold  up  single  propositions  to  reproach,  according  to  the  sound 
simply  which  they  may  carry  to  the  ear  of  popular  prejudice,  in  their 
separate  form,  it  will  be  quite  easy  to  fix  upon  the  author  the  charge  of 
heresy,  in  the  most  opposite  directions.  This  low  polemic  trick  can  be 
practised  here,  without  even  the  small  amount  of  cleverness  it  calls  for 
in  ordinary  cases.  The  author  has  himself  furnished  to  its  hand,  in 
these  Theses,  all  the  opportunity  it  could  wish,  to  do  him  wrong  in  this 
way.  Can  the  trick  itself  however,  in  such  circumstances,  cease  to  be 
■either  dishonorable  or  immoral  1  Translator. 


THESES  FOR  THE  TIME. 


In 


TRODUCTION. 


1.  Every  period  of  the  Church  and  of  Theology  has  its  partic- 
ular problem  to  solve  ;  and  every  doctrine,  in  a  nneasure  every 
book  also  of  the  bible,  has  its  classic  age,  in  which  it  first  comes 
to  be  fully  understood  and  appropriated  by  the  consciousness  of 
:he  Christian  world. 

2.  The  main  question  of  our  time,  is  concerning  the  nature  of 
the  Church  itself,  in  its  relation  to  the  world  and  to  single  Chris- 
tians. 

I.  The  Church  in  general. 

3.  The  Church  is  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  expresses  her 
communion  with  her  Head,  and  also  the  relation  of  her  members 
to  one  another. 

4.  In  the  first  respect,  she  is  an  institution  founded  by  Christ, 
proceeding  from  his  loins  and  animated  by  his  spirit,  for  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  salvation  of  man  ;  through  which  alone,  as  its 
necessary  organ,  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  becomes  effec- 
tive in  the  history  of  the  world.  Hence  out  of  the  Church,  as 
there  is  no  Christianity,  there  can  be  no  salvation. 

16 


178 

5.  In  the  second  respect,  she  is,  like  every  other  body,  a  living 
unity  of  different  members  ;  a  communion  in  faith  and  love,  visi- 
ble as  well  as  invisible,  external  as  well  as  internal,  of  the  most 
manifold  individualities,  gifts  and  powers,  pervaded  with  the 
same  spirit  and  serving, tlie  same  end. 

6.  The  definition  implies  farther,  that  as  the  life  of  the  parents 
flows  forward  in  the  child,  so  the  Church  also  is  the  depository 
and  continuation  of  the  earthly  human  life  of  the  Redeemer,  in 
his  threefold  office  of  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King. 

7.  Hence  she  possesses,  like  her  Founder,  a  divine  and  human, 
an  ideal  and  real,  a  heavenly  and  an  earthly  nature  ;  only  with 
this  difference,  that  in  her  militant  stage,  freedom  from  sin  and 
error  cannot  be  predicated  of  her  in  the  same  sense  as  of  Christ  ; 
that  is,  she  possesses  the  principle  of  holiness  and  the  full  truth, 
mixed  however  still  with  sin  and  error. 

8.  To  the  Church  belong,  in  the  wider  sense,  all  baptized  per- 
sons, even  though  they  may  have  fallen  back  to  the  world  ;  in 
the  narrower  sense  however,  such  only  as  believe  in  Jesus  Christ. 

9.  The  relation  of  the  Church  to  the  world,  with  its  different 
spheres,  of  science,  art,  government,  and  social  life,  is  neither  one 
of  destruction  on  her  part  nor  one  of  indifference  ;  but  the  object 
of  it  is,  that  she  should  transfuse  the  world  with  the  purifying 
power  of  her  own  divine  life,  and  thus  bring  it  at  last  to  its  true 
and  proper  perfection. 

10.  The  ultimate  scope  of  history  accordingly  is  this,  that 
Christianity  may  become  completely  the  same  with  nature,  and 
the  world  be  formally  organised  as  the  kingdom  of  Christ  ;  which 
must  involve  the  absolute  identity  of  Church  and  State,  Theology 
and  Philosophy,  Worship  and  Art,  Religion  and  Morality  ;  the 
state  of  the  renovated  earth,  in  which  God  will  be  All  in  all. 

11.  In  relation  to  single  Christians,  the  Church  is  the  Mother 
from  which  they  derive  their  religious  life,  and  to  which  they  owe 
therefore  constant  fidelity,  gratitude  and  obedience;  she  is  the 
power  of  the  objective  and  general,  to  which  the  subjective  and 
single  should  ever  be  subordinate. 

12.  Only  in  such  regular  and  rational  subordination  can  the 
individual  Christian  be  truly  free  ;  and  his  personal  piety  can  as 
little  come  to  perfection  apart  from  an  inward  and  outward  com- 
munion with  the  life  of  the  Church,  as  a  limb  separated  from  the 
body,  or  a  branch  torn  from  the  vine. 


179 

13.  Christianity  in  itself  is  the  absolute  religion,  and  in  this 
view  unsusceptible  of  improvement. 

14.  We  nflust  not  confound  with  this  however,  the  apprehen- 
sion and  appropriation  of  Christianity  in  the  consciousness  of 
mankind.  This  is  a  progressive  process  of  development,  that 
will  reach  its  close  only  with  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord, 

15.  All  historical  progress  then,  in  the  case  of  the  Church, 
consists,  not  in  going  beyond  Christianity  itself,  which  could 
only  be  to  fall  back  to  Heathenism  and  Judaism,  but  in  entering 
always  more  and  more,  (materially  as  well  as  formally,)  into  the 
life  and  doctrine  of  the  Redeemer,  and  in  throwing  off  by  this 
means,  always  more  and  more,  the  elements  of  sin  and  error 
still  remaining  from  the  state  of  naturci. 

16.  It  is  possible  for  the  Cliurch  to.  be  in  possession  of  a  truth, 
and  to  live  upon  it,  before  it  has  come  to  be  discerned  in  her  con- 
sciousness. So  it  was,  for  instance,  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
trinity  before  the  lime  of  Athanasius,  with  the  doctrine  of  divine 
grace  and  human  freedom  before  Augustine,  and  with  the  evan- 
gefical  doctrine  of  justification  during  the  Middle  Ages.  Thus 
the  child  eats  and  drinks,  long  before  it  has  the  knowledge  of 
food,  and  walks  before  it  is  aware  of  the  fact,  much  less  how  it 
walks.. 

17.  The  idea,  unfolded  in  comprehensive  and  profound  style 
particularly  by  the  later  German  Philosophy,  that  history  in- 
volves a  continual  progress  towards  something  better,  by  means 
of- dialectic  contrapositions,  (Gegensaetze),  is  substantially  true 
and  correct, 

18.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  however,  in  connection  with  this, 
that  there  is  a  corresponding  movement  also  on  the  part  of  evil, 
towards  that  which  is  worse.  Light  and  darkness,  the  wheat 
and  the  tares,  grow  together  till  their  development  shall  become 
complete, 

19.  We  must  distinguish  in  the  Church  accordingly  between 
idea  and  manifestation.  As  to  her  idea,  or  as  comprehended  in 
Christ,  she  is  already  complete  ;  in  the  way  of  manifestation  how- 
ever, she  passes,  like  every  one  of  her  members,  outwardly  and 
inwardly,  through  different  stages  of  life,  until  the  ideal  inclosed 
in  Christ  shall  be  fully  actualized  in  humanity,  and  his  body  ap- 
pear  thus  in  the  ripeness  of  complete  manhood. 

20.  Such  a  process  of  growth  is  attended  necessarily  with  cer- 
tain diseases  and  crises,  as  well  theoretical,  in  the  form  of  here- 
sies, as  practical,  in  the  form  of  schisms. 


180 

!?1.  These  diseases  are  to  be  referred  partly  to  the  remaining 
force  of  sin  and  error  in  the  regenerate  thennselves,  and  partly 
to  the  unavoidable  connection  of  the  Church  with  the  still  un- 
christian world,  by  means  of  which  the  corrupt  elements  of  this 
last  are  always  forcing  their  way  into  her  communion. 

22.  They  can  never  overthrow  however  the  existence  of  the 
Church.  The  Church  may  fall  down,  sore  wounded,  divided  and 
torn,  without  ceasing  for  this  reason  to  be  the  body  of  Christ. 
Through  her  humiliation  gleams  evermore  the  unwasting  glory  of 
her  divine  nature. 

23^  In  the  wise  providence  of  God,  all  heresies  and  schisms- 
serve  only  to  bring  the  Church  to  a  more  clear  consciousness  of 
her  true  vocation,  a  deeper  apprehension  of  her  faith,  and  a  purer 
revelation  of  the  power  included  in  her  life. 

24.  But  the  presence  of  disease  in  the  body  requires  to  the  same 
extent  a  remedial  or  curative  process,  that  is  a  reformation. 

25.  Protestantism  consequently,  in  the  true  sense,  belongs  in- 
dispensably to  the  life  of  the  Church  ;  being  the  reaction  simply 
of  her  proper  vitality,  depressed  but  not  destroyed,  in  opposition 
to  the  workings  of  disease  in  her  system. 

li.  The  Reformatiopj.. 

26.  Protestantism  runs  through  the  entire  history  of  the  Church, 
and  will  not  cease  till  she  is  purged  completely  from  all  ungodly 
elements.  So,  for  instance,  Paul  protested  against  Jewish  legal* 
ism  and  Pagan  licentiousness  as  found  insidiously  at  work  in  the 
first  Christian  communities,  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  first  cen- 
turies against  the  heresies  and  schisms  of  Ebionitism,  Gnosticism^ 
Montanism,  Arianism,  Pelagianism,  Donatism,   &c. 

27.  The  most  grand  and  widely  influential  exhibition  of  Protes- 
tantism, is  presented  to  us,  under  the  formal  constitution  of  a  spe- 
cial Church,  in  the  Reformation  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  as  orig- 
inated, and  in  its  most  deep,  inward,  and  truly  apostolic  form,, 
carried  out  and  consummated  by  the  German  nation. 

28.  It  is  a  jejune  and  narrow  conception  of  this  event,  to  look 
upon  it  as  a  restoration  simply  of  the  original  state  of  the  Church, 
or  a  renewal  of  Augustinism  against  the  Pelagian  system,  by 
which  it  had  been  supplantedf. 

29.  Such  a  view  proceeds  on  the  fundamentally  erroneous  sup- 
position,  that   the  religious  life  revealed  in  the  person  of  Christ 


primarily,  and  by  derivation  from  him  in  his  apostles,  has  been 
fully  actualized  also  from  the  beginning  in  the  general  mass  of 
the  Church. 

30.  Rather,  the  Reformation  must  be  viewed  as  an  actual  ad- 
vance of  the  religious  life  and  consciousness  of  the  Church,  by 
means  of  a  deeper  apprehension  of  God's  word,  beyond  all  pre- 
vious attainments  of  Christendom. 

31.  As  little  is  the  Reformation  to  be  regarded  as  a  revolution- 
ary separation  from   the  Catholic  Church,  holding  connection  at 
best  perhaps   with  some  fractionary  sect  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
only  through   this  and  the    help  of  certain  desperate  historical 
leaps  besides,  reaching  back  to  the  age  of  the  apostles. 

32.  This  contracted  view  of  Protestantism  is  not  only  unhisto- 
rical  and  unchurchly  altogether,  but  conscious  or  unconscious 
treason  at  the  same  time  to  the  Lord's  promise  that  he  would 
build  his  Church  upon  a  rock,  and  that  the  gates  of  Hell  should 
not  prevail  against  it,  as  well  as  to  his  engagement,  '*Lo  I  am. 
with  you  always  even  to  the  end  of  the  world,"  and  the  apostolic 
word,  "The  Church  is  the  pilla*-  and  ground  of  the  truth." 

33.  Rather,  the  Reformation  is  the  greatest  act  of  the  Catholic 
Church  itself,  the  full  ripe  fruit  of  all  its  belter  tendencies,  particu- 
larly of  the  deep  spiritual  law  conflicts  of  the  Middle  Period, 
which  were  as  a  schoolmaster  towards  the  protestant  doctrine  of 
justification. 

34.  The  separation  was  produced,  not  by  the  will  of  the  Re- 
formers, but  by  the  stiff-necked  papacy  ,^which  like  Judaism  at  the 
time  of  Christ,  identifying  itself  in  a  fleshly  way  with  the  idea  of 
the  absolute  Church,  refused  to  admit  the  onward  movement. 

35.  Thus  apprehended,  Protestantism  has  as  large  an  interest 
in  the  vast  historical  treasures  of  the  previous  period,  as  can  be  • 
claimed  rightfully  by  the  Church  of  Rome.  Hence  the  argu- 
ments drawn  by  Romanists  from  this  quarter,  and  particularlyv 
from  the  Middle  Ages,  the  proper  cradle  of  the  Reformation,  have 
no  application  against  our  standpoint. 

36.  Equally  false  finally  is  the  view,  whether  popular  or  philoso- 
phical, by  which  the  Reformation  is  made  to  consist  in  the  abso- 
lute emancipation  of  the  Christian  life  subjectively  considered  from 
all  Church  authority,  and  the  exaltation   of  private  judgment  to  • 
the  papal  throne. 

37.  This  view  confounds  with  the  Reformation  itself  the  fouh 

16* 


182 

excrescences   that   revealed   themselves  along  with  it  in  the  be- 
ginning, and  the  onesided  character  of  its  development  since. 

38.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  quite  clear  from  history  that  the  Re- 
■  formers  aimed  only  at    such    liberty  of  faith  and  conscience  and 

such  independence  of  private  judgment,  as  should  involve  a  hum- 
ble subjection  of  the  natural  will,  which  they  held  to  be  incapable 
of  all  good,  to  God's  grace,  and  of  the  human  reason  to  God's 
word.  Indeed  their  opposition  to  the  Roman  traditions  was  itself 
based  on  the  conviction,  that  they  were  the  product  of  such  reasou, 
sundered  from  the  divine  word. 

39.  The  material,  or  life  principle  of  Protestantism,  is  the  doc- 
trine of  justification  by  grace  alone,  through  the  merits  of  Jesus 
Christ,  by  means  of  living  faith  ;  that  is  the  personal  appropria-. 
tlon  of  Christ  in  the  totality  of  the  inner  man. 

40.  This  does    not  overthrow   good   works ;.  rather  they  are 
rightly  called  for  and  made  possible  only   in  this  way  ;  with  de- 
pendence however  on  faith,  as  being  its  necessary  fruit,  the  sub-- 
jective  impression  of  the  Xi^q  of  Christ,  in  opposition  to  Pelagiart-? 
ism,  which  places  works  parallel  with  faith,  or  above  it  even. 

41.  The  formal  or  knowledge  principle  of  Protestantism,  is  the 
sufficiency  and  unerring  certainty  of  the  holy  scriptures,  as  the 
only  norm  of  all  saving  knowledge. 

42.  This  does  not  overthrow  the  idea  of  Church  tradition  ;  but 
simply  makes  it  dependent  on  the  written  word,  as  the  stream  is 
upon  the  fountain — the  necessary,  ever  deepening  onward  flow  of 
the  sense  of  scripture  itself,  as  it  is  carried  forward  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  Christian  world  ;  contrary  to  the  Romish  dog- 
ma, by  which  tradition,  as  the  bearer  of  different  contents  altogeth- 
er,    is    made  co-ordinate  with  the   bible  or  even  exalted  above  it. 

43.  These  two  principles,  rightly  apprehended,  are  only  differ- 
ent  mutually  supplementary  sides  of  one  and  the  same  principle, 
and  their  living  interpenetration  forms  the  criterion  of  orthodox 
protestantism. 

44^  Opposition  to  the  Roman  Catholic  extreme,  according  to 
v  the  general  law  of  historical  progress,  led  the  Reformers  to  place 
the  strongest  emphasis  on  justification  and  faith,  scripture  and 
[teaching;  whence  the  possibility  of  a  onesided  development,  in 
v.- hich  holiness  and  love,  tradition  and  sacrament,  might  not' be 
allowed  to  come  to  their  full  rights. . 

45.  Respect  for  the  Reformation   as  a  divine  work  in  no  way 


forbids  the  admission,  that  it  included  some  mixture  of  error  and; 
sin  ;  as  where  God  builds  a  Church,  the  Devil  erects  a  chapel  by 
its  side. 

46.  In    any  view  moreover  the  Reformation  must  be  regarded 
as  still  incomplete.     It  needs  yet  its  concluding  act,  to  unite  what 
has  fallen  asunder,  to  bring  the  subjective  to  a  reconciliation  with: 
the  objective. 

47.  Puritanism  may  be  considered  a  sort  of  second  reforma- 
tion, called  forth  by  the  reappearance  of  Romanizing  elements  in 
the  Anglican  Church,  and  as  such  forms  the  basis  to  a  great  ex-- 
tent  of  American  Protestantism,  particularly  in  New  England. 

46.  Its  highest  recommendatioDy  bearing  clearly  a  divine  sig- 
nature, IS  presented  in  its  deep  practical  earnestness  as  it  regards 
religion,  and   its   zeal    for   personal  piety  ;  by  which  it  has  been, 
t^iore  successful   perhaps   than  any  other  section  of  the  Church,, 
fpr  a  time,  in  the  work  of  saving  individual  souls. 

49..  On  the  other  handj  it  falls  far  behind  the  German  Refor=. 
txiation  by  its  revolutionary,  unhistorical,  and  consequently  un- 
churchly  character,  and  carries  jn  itself  no  protection  whatever 
against  an  indefinite  subdivision  of  the  Church  into  separate 
atomistic  sects.  For  having  no  conception  at  all  of  a  historical, 
development  of  Christianity,  and  with  its  negative  attitude  of  blind 
irrational  zeal  towards  the  past  in  its  own  rear,  it  may  be  said  to 
have  armed  its  children  with  the  same  right,  and  the  same  ten- 
dency too,  to  treat  its  own  authority  with  equal  independence  and 
contempt. 

III.  The  Present  state  of  the  Church. 

50,  Protestantism  has  formed  the  starting  point  and  centre  of 
almost  all  important  world  movements  in  the  history  of  the  last 
three  centuries,  and  constitutes  now  also  the  main  interest  of  the 
time. 

51.  The  history  of  Protestantism,  in  the  spheres  of  religion, 
science,  art  and  government,  especially  since  the  commencement 
of  ihe  18ih  century,  may  be   regarded  as  the  development  of  the 

'principle  o£ subjectivity,  the  consciousness  of/reecZom. 

53»  In  this  development  however,  it  has  gradually  become  es- 
tranged to  a  great  extent  from  its  own  original  nature,  and  fallen, 
over  dialectically  into  its  opposite,  according  to  the  general  course 
of  history. 


184 

53i  Its  grand  maladies  at  this  time  are  Rationalism  and  Sec- 
tarism. 

54.  Rationalism  is  onesided  theoretic  religious  subjectivism, 
and  its  fullest  and  most  perfect  exhibition  has  taken  place  accord- 
ingly in  Germany,  the  land  of  theory  and  science,  and  in  the  bo- 
som of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

55.  Sectarism  is  onesided  practical  religious  subjectivism,  and 
has  found  its  classic  ground  within  the  territory  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  in  the  predominantly  practical  countries,  England  and- 
America. 

56.  These  two  maladies  of  Protestantism  stand  in  a  relation  to 
it,  similar  to  that  of  the  papacy  to  Catholicism  in  the  Middle 
Ages  ;  that  is,  they  have  a  conditional  historical  necessity,  and. 
an  outward  connection  with  the  system  to  which  they  adhere,  but 
contradict  nevertheless  and  caricature  its  inmost  nature. 

57.  The  secular  interests,  science,  art^  government,  and  social 
life,  have  become  since  the  Reformation  always  more  and  more 
dissociated  from  the  Church,  in  whose  service  they  stood  though 
with  unfree  subjugation  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  in  this  separate 
form  are  advanced  to  a  high  state  of  perfection. 

58.  This  is  a  false  position  ;  since  the  idea  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  requires  that  all  divinely  constituted  forms  and  spheres  of 
life  should  be  brought  to  serve  Him,  in  the  most  intimate  alliance, 
with  religion,  that  God  may  be  All  in  all. 

59.  The  orthodox  Protestantism  of  our  day,  with  alt  its  different 
character  in  other  respects,  is  distinguished  in  common  with  Ra- 
tionalism and  Sectarism,  particularly  in  this  country,  by  the 
quality  of  onesided  subjectivity  ;  only  with  the  advantage  of 
course  of  a  large  amount  of  personal  piety.. 

60.  Its  great  defect  is  the  want  of  an  adequate  conception  of 
the  nature  of  the  Church,  and  of  its  relation  to  the  individual 
Christian  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  general  life  of  man  on  the 
other. . 

61.  Hence  proceeds,  first,  indifference  towards  sectarian,  or  at 
least  denominational  divisions,  which  are  at  war  with  the  idea  of > 
the  Church  as  the  body  of  Christ. 

62.  Secondly,  a  want  of  respect  for  history,  by  which  it  is- af- 
fected to. fall, » back  immediately  and  wholly  upon  the  scriptures,, 
without  regard  tOv  the  development  of  their  contents  in  the  life  of, 
(he  Church,  as  it  has  stood  from. the  beginning. 


185 

63.  Thirdly,  an  undervaluation  of  the  sacraments,  as  objective 
institutions  of  the  Lord,  independent  of  individual  views  and 
states. 

64.  Fourthly,  a  disproportionate  esteem  for  the  service  of 
preaching,  with  a  corresponding  sacrifice  in  the  case  of  the  litur- 
gy, the  standing  objective  part  of  divine  worship,  in  which  the 
whole  congregation  is  called  to  pour  forth  its  religious  life  to  God. 

65.  Fifthly,  a  circumscribed  conception  of  the  all  pervading 
leaven-like  nature  of  the  gospel,  involving  an  abstract  sepa- 
ration^ of  religion  from  the  divinely  established  order  of  the  world 
m  other  spheres. 

66*  To  this  must  be  added  in  the  case  of  a  number  of  denomi- 
nations the  fancy  of  their  own  perfection,  an  idea  that  their  partic- 
ular traditional  style  of  religion  can  never  be  improved  into  any- 
thing better  ;  which  is  a  rejection  of  the  protestant  principle  of 
mobility  and  progress,  and  a  virtual  relapse  accordingly  into  the 
ground  error  of  the  Romish  Church. 

67.  From  all  this  it  is  clear,  that  the  standpoint,  and  with  it  the 
wants  of  our  time,  are  wholly  different  from  those  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 

68.  Our  most  immediate  and  most  threatening  danger  is  not 
now  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  but  from  the  in  part  heterodox 
and  antichristian,  in  part  orthodox  and  pious,  but  always 
onesided  and  false  subjectivism,  by  which  the  rights  of  the  Church 
are  wronged  in  our  own  midst ;  which  however  must  itself  be  con- 
sidered again  as  indirectly  the  most  alarming  aspect  of  the  danger 
that  does  in  fact  threaten  us  on  the  side  of  Rome  ;  since  one  ex- 
treme serves  always  to  facilitate  the  triumph  of  another. 

69.  The  redeeming  tendency  of  the  age  therefore  is  not  such 
as  looks  directly  to  the  emancipation  of  the  individual  and  subjec- 
tive from  the  bonds  of  authority,  as  at  the  time  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, but  it  is  that  rather  which  regards  the  claims  of  the  objective 
in  the  true  idea  of  the  Church. 

70.  Not  until  Protestantism  shall  have  repented  of  its  own 
faults,  and  healed  its  own  wounds,  may  it  expect  to  prevail  finally 
over  the  Church  of  Rome. 

71.  As  this  duty  has  been  thus  far  in  a  great  measure  neglect- 
ed, it  is  to  be  taken  as  a  divine  judgment  in  the  case,  that  Popery 
has  been  enabled  to  make  such  formidable  advances  latterly,  es-^ 
pecially  in  England  and  the  United  States. 


186 

72.  Puseyism,  (with  which  of  course  we  must  not  confound  the 
spurious  afterbirth  of  iantaslic,  hollow  hearted  affectation,  always 
to  be  expected  in  such  a  case,)  may  be  considered  in  its  original 
intention  and  best  tendency  a  well  meant,  but  insufficient  and  un- 
successful attempt,  to  correct  the  ultra  subjectivity  of  Protes- 
tantism. 

73.  In  this  view  we  have  reason  to  rejoice  in  its  appearance,  as 
indicating  on  the  part  of  the  prolestant  world  a  waking  conscious- 
ness of  the  malady  under  which  it  labors  in  this  direction,  and 
serving  also  to  promote  right  Church  feeling. 

74.  By  its  reverence  for  Church  antiquity  it  exerts  a  salutary 
influence  against  what  may  bo  viewed  as  the  reignmg  error  of  our 
time,  a  wild  revolutionary  zeal  for  liberty,  coupled  with  a  profane 
scorn  of  all  that  is  holy  in  the  experience  of  the  past. 

75.  So  also  its  stress  laid  upon  forms  exhibits  a  wholesome 
reaction,  against  the  irrational  hyper-spiritualism,  so  common 
among  even  the  best  protestants  ;  which  the  doctrine  of  the  resur- 
rection alone,  as  taught  in  the  bible,  is  enough  to  prove  fallacious. 

76.  Church  forms  serve  two  general  purposes  ;  first,  they  are 
for  the  lower  stages  of  religious  development  conductors  over  into 
the  life  of  the  spirit  ;  secondly,  they  are  for  the  Church  at  large 
the  necessary  utterance  or  corporealization  of  the  spirit,  in  the 
view  in  which  Oetinger's.  remark  holds  good,  '■^Corporeity  is  the 
scope  of  God^s  ways.^' 

77.  All  turns  simply  on  this>  that  the  form  be  answerable  to 
the  contents,  and  be  actuated  by  the  spirit.  A  formless  spiritual, 
ism  is  no  whit  better  ihan  a  spiritless  formalism.  The  only  right 
condition  is  a  sound  spirit  within  a  sound  body. 

78.  The  grand  defect  of  Puseyism,  on  the  other  hand,  is  its. 
unprolestant  character,  in  not  recognising  the  importance  of  the 
Reformation,  and  the  idea  of  progress  in  the  life  of  the  Church 
since. 

79.  It  is  for  this  reason  only  half  historical  and  half  catholic  ; 
since  its  sympathy  and  respect  for  the  past  life  of  the  Church  stop 
short  with  the  Sixteenth  Century. 

80.  Its  view  of  the  Church  altogether  is  outward  and  meohani-. 
cal,  excluding  the  conception  of  a  living  development  through  the 
successive  periods  of  its  history. 

81.  This  character  appears  particularly  in  its  theory  of  episco- 
pal succession  ;  which    is  only  a  new  form  of  the  old  pharisaic 


187 

Judaism,  and  moreover  makes  the  apostolicity  of  the  Church  de- 
pendent on  a  historical  inquiry,  (in  the  case  of  which  besides  no 
absolute  certainty  is  possible,)  resting  it  thus  on  a  wholly  preca- 
rious human  foundation. 

82.  Puseyism  is  to  be  viewed  then  as  nothing  more  than  a 
simple  reaction,  which  has  served  to  bring  to  light  the  evils  of  ultra 
pseudo-protesfant  individualism,  but  offers  no  remedy  for  it  save 
the  perilous  alternative  of  falling  back  to  a  standpoint,  already 
surmounted  in  the  way  of  religious  progress. 

83.  The  true  standpoint,  all  necessary  for  the  wants  of  the 
time,  is  (hat  o^ Protestant  Catholicism^  or  genuine  historical  pro- 
gress. 

84.  This  holds  equally  remote  from  unchurchly  subjectivity 
and  all  Romanising  churchism,  though  it  acknowledges  and  seeks 
to  unite  in  itself  the  truth  which  lies  at  the  ground  of  both  these 
extremes. 

85.  Occupying  this  conservative  historical  standpoint,  from 
which  the  moving  of  God's  Spirit  is  discerned  in  all  periods  of  the 
Church,  we  may  not  in  the  first  place  surrender  anything  essen- 
tial of  the  positive  acquisition  secured  by  the  Reformation,  wheth- 
er Lutheran  or  Reformed. 

86.  Neither  may  we  again  absolutely  negate  the  later  develop- 
ment of  Protestantism,  not  even  Rationalism  and  Sectarism  them- 
selves, but  must  appropriate  to  ourselves  rather  the  element  of 
truth  they  contain,  rejecting  only  the  vast  alloy  of  error  from 
which  it  is  to  be  extracted. 

87.  Rationalism  and  Sectarism  possess  historical  right,  so  far 
as  the  principle  of  subjectivity,  individuality,  singleness  and  inde- 
pendence, can  be  said  to  be  possessed  of  right  ;  that  is,  so  far  as 
this  comes  not  in  contradiction  to  the  principle  of  objectivity, 
generality,  the  Church,  authority  and  law,  so  far  then  as  it  con- 
tinues subordinate  to  these  forces. 

88.  Rationalism  was  a  necessary  schoolmaster  for  the  ortho- 
dox theology,  destroying  its  groundless  prejudices,  and  compell- 
ing it  both  to  accept  a  more  scientific  form  in  general,  and  also  in 
particular  to  allow  the  human,  the  earthly,  the  historical,  in  the 
theanthropic  nature  of  Christ  and  the  Church,  to  come  more  fully 
to  its  rights. 

89.  Whilst  however  the  earlier  historico-critical  Rationalism 
has  promoted  a  right  understanding  of  the  natural  and  historical 
in  Christianity,  this  understanding  in  its  case  remains  still  but 
half  true,  since-  it  has  no  organ  for  ideas,  the  inward  life  of 
which  history  after  all  is  but  the  body. 


188 

i)0.  The  later  speculative  Rationalism,  or  pantheistic  My  tholo- 
gism,  or  the  Hegelingians  as  they  have  been  deridingly  styled, 
(Dr.  Strauss  and  his  colleagues,)  which  from  the  Ebionilic  stand- 
point of  the  old  system  has  swung  over  to  the  opposite  extreme  of 
docetic  Gnostic  idealism,  fails  to  apprehend  the  idea  of  Christiani- 
ty in  its  full  truth  and  vitality,  and  substitutes  for  it  a  phantom  or 
mere  shadow,  since  it  has  no  organ  for  historical  reality,  the 
outward  life  without  which  after  all  the  idea  must  perish. 

91.  As  in  the  first  centuries  the  theology  of  the  Catholic  Church 
gradually  developed  itself,  through  scientific  struggles  with  the 
two  ground  heresies,  Ebionism  or  christianizing  Judaism,  and 
Gnosticism  or  christianizing  Heathenism,  so  now  also  we  are  to 
look  for  a  higher  Orthodoxy,  overmastering  inwardly  both  forms 
of  Protestant  Rationalism,  which  shall  bring  the  real  and  the 
ideal  into  the  most  intimate  union,  and  recognize  in  full  as  well 
the  eternal  spirit  of  Christianity  as  its  historical  body. 

92.  The  germs  of  all  this  are  at  hand  in  the  later  movements 
and  achievments  of  the  believing  German  theology,  and  need 
only  a  farther  development  to  issue  at  last  in  "a  full  dogmatical  re- 
formation, 

93.  Separation,  where  it  is  characterized  by  religious  life, 
springs  almost  always  from  some  real  evil  in  the  state  of  the 
Church,  and  hence  Sectarism  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  necessary 
disciplinarian  and  reformer  of  the  Church  in  its  practical  life. 

94.  Almost  every  sect  represents  in  strong  relief  some  single 
particular  aspect  of  piety,  and  contributes  to  the  more  full  evolu- 
tion of  individual  religious  activity. 

95.  Since  however  the  truths  of  the  gospel  form  an  insepara» 
ble  unity,  and  the  single  member  can  become  complete  only  along 
with  the  whole  body  of  which  it  is  a  part,  it  follows  that  no  sect 
can  ever  do  justice  fully  even  to  the  single  interest  to  which  it  is 
onesidedly  devoted. 

96.  Sects  then  owe  it  to  themselves,  as  soon  as  they  have  ful- 
filled their  historical  vocation,  to  fall  back  again  to  the  general 
Church  communion  from  which  they  have  seceded,  as  in  no  other 
way  can  their  spiritual  acquisitions  be  either  completed  or  secured, 
and  they  must  themselves  otherwise  stiffen  into  monumental  pet- 
rifactions, never  to  be  revisited  with  the  warm  life  pulse  of  the 
one  universal  Church. 

97.  It  is  a  cheering  sign  of  the  time,  that  in  the  most  different 
Protestant  lands,  and  particularly  in  the  bosom  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  in  which  religious  individualism  both  in  the  good  and  in 
the  bad  sense  has  been  most  fully  developed,   it   is  coming  to  be 


felt  more  and  more  that  the  existing  divisions  of  the  Chtirch  are 
wrong,  and  with  this  is  waking  more  and  more  an  earnest  longing 
after  a  true  union  of  all  believers,  in  no  communication  whatever 
with  the  errors  either  of  Oxford  or  Rome. 

'98.  Finally,  also  the  liberation  of  the  secular  spheres  of  life 
from  the  Church  since  the  Reformation,  though  not  the  ultimate 
normal  order,  forms  notwithstanding  as  compared  with  the  pre- 
vious vassalage  of  the  world  to  a  despotic  hierarchy,  an  advance 
in  the  naturalization  process  of  Christianity. 

99.  The  luxuriant  separate  growth  of  these  interests,  as  unfold- 
ed in  the  Protestant  States,  Sciences,  Arts,  and  Social  Culture, 
lays  the  Church  under  obligation  to  appropriate  these  advances 
to  herself,  and  impress  upon  them  a  religious  character. 

100.  The  signs  of  the  time  then,  and  the  teachings  of  history, 
point  us  not  backwards,  but  forwards  to  a  new  era  of  the  Church, 
that  may  be  expected  to  evolve  itself  gradually  from  the  present 
process  of  fermentation,  enriched  with  the  entire  positive  gain  of 
Protestantism. 

101.  As  the  movement  of  history  in  the  Church  is  like  that  of 
the  sun  from  East  to  West,  it  is  possible  that  America,  into  whose 
broad  majestic  bosom  the  most  various  elements  of  character  and 
educaiion  are  poured  from  the  old  world,  may  prove  the  theatre 
of  this  unitive  reformation. 

102.  Thus  far,  if  we  put  out  of  view  the  rise  of  a  few  insignif- 
icant sects,  and  the  separation  of  Church  and  State,  which  to  be 
sure  has  very  momentous  bearings,  American  Church  history  has 
produced  nothing  original,  no  new  fact  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  as  a  whole. 

103.  No  where  else  however  is  there  at  present  the  same 
favorable  room  for  farther  development,  since  in  no  country  of  the 
old  world  does  the  Church  enjoy  such  entire  freedom,  or  the  same 
power  to  renovate  itself  from  within  according  to  its  own 
pleasure. 

104.  The  historical  progress  of  the  Church  is  always  condi- 
tioned by  the  national  elements,  which  form  its  physical  basis. 

105.  The  two  leading  nationalities,  which  are  continually 
coming  into  contact  in  this  country,  and  flowing  into  one  another 
with  reciprocal  action,  are  the  English  and  the  German. 

106.  The  farther  advancement  of  the  American  Church,  con- 
sequently, must  proceed  mainly  from  a  special  combination  ot 

17 


190 

German  depth  and  Gemuethlichkeity   with  the  force  ofcharacterv, 
and  active  practical  talent,  for  which  the  English  are  distinguished. 

107.  It  would  be  a  rich  offering  then  to  the  service  of  this  ap- 
proaching reformation,  on  the  part  of  the  German  Churclies  in 
America,  to  transplant  hither  in  proper  measure  the  rich  wealth  of 
the  better  German  theology,  improving  it  into  such  form  as  our 
peculiar  relations  might  require. 

108.  This  their  proper  vocation  however  they  have  thus  far 
almost  entirely  overlooked,  seeking  their  salvation  for  the  most 
part  in  a  characterless  surrendry  of  their  own  nationality. 

109.  In  view  of  the  particular  constitution  of  a  large  part  of 
the  German  emigration,  this  subjection  to  the  power  of  a  foreign 
life  may  be  regarded  indeed  as  salutary. 

110.  But  the  time  has  now  come,  when  our  Churches  should 
again  rise  out  of  the  ashes  of  the  old  German  Adam,  enriched  and 
refined  with  the  advantages  of  the  English  nationality. 

\  111.  What  we  most  need  now,  is  theoretically,  a  thorough,  in- 
itellectual  theology,  scientifically  free  as  well  as  decidedly  believ- 
j  ing,  together  with  a  genuine  sense  for  history  ;  and  practically,  a 
determination  to  hold  fast  the  patrimony  of  our  fathers,  and  to  go 
forward  joyfully  at  the  same  time  in  the  way  in  which  God's 
Spirit  by  providential  signs  may  lead,  with  a  proper  bumble  sub- 
ordination of  all  we  do  for  our  own  denomination  to  the  general 
interest  of  the  One  Universal  Church. 

112.  The  ultimate,  sure  scope  of  the  Church,  towards  which 
the  inmost  wish  and  most  earnest  prayer  of  all  her  true  friends 
continually  tend,  is  that  perfect  and  glorious  unity  the  desire  of 
which  may  be  said  to  constitute  the  burden  of  our  Lord's  last, 
memorable,  intercessory  Prayer. 


1»1 


APPENDIX. 

The  following  sermon  is  added  to  the  translation  of  Professor 
Schafs  work  at  the  request  of  the  author  himself,  in  place  of  the 
very  long  extract  from  it  in  the  German  edition  of  which  notice  is 
taken  in  a  note  on  page  170  ;  and  in  compliance  at  the  same  time 
with  a  desire  of  the  same  sort  expressed  by  others.  There  is  a 
sufficient  affinity  between  the  two  publications  in  their  general 
spirit  and  scope,  to  justify  their  being  connected  in  this  way. 
An  additional  reason  for  publishing  the  sermon  is  found  in  the 
fact,  that  some  doubt  has  been  raised  latterly  with  regard  to  its 
theological  soundness  ;  whilst  at  the  same  time  copies  of  it  have 
become  hard  to  find,  published  as  it  was  originally  only  in  news- 
paper form^  Some  who  gave  but  little  heed  to  it  when  it  appeared 
in  this  way,  have  come  to  take  more  interest  in  it  since.  In  these 
circumstances,  it  seems  proper  to  republish  it,  that  it  may  be  tried 
on  its  own  merits.  The  sermon  derives  some  importance,  both 
from  its  subject  and  its  occasion.  Of  all  themes,  the  most  mo- 
mentous at  this  time  is  the  true  idea  of  the  Church.  A  false  ten- 
dency prevails  on  this  subject  in  a  large  section  of  the  Protestant 
world,  to  which  the  views  presented  in  the  sermon  are  directly 
opposed.  In  this  view,  its  approval  by  so  respectable  a  body  as 
the  Triennial  Convention  at  Harrisburg,  is  entitled  to  attention.. 
This  approval  too  was  in  no  respect  ambiguous  or  uncertain  ;  as 
along  with  the  public  vote  of  the  Convention  recommending  its 
publication  in  the  Weekly  Messenger  and  Christian  Intelligencer, 
the  most  decided  expressions  of  satisfaction  with  it  were  given  ia 


1*92 

a  more  private  way.  It  was  gratifying  to  receive  from  the  lead» 
ing  brethren  of  the  Dutch  Church  in  particular  explicit  testimo- 
nies in  its  favor,  as  a  seasonable  vindication  of  important  truth  in 
opposition  to  those  loose  views  of  the  Church  which  have  become 
so  common.  No  change  is  made  in  the  sermon  as  originally 
written  ;  only,  as  a  support  to  some  of  its  positions,  a  {gw  notes 
are  added,  serving  mainly  to  show  the  ground  occupied  by  Calvin 
and  the  Reformed  Church  generally  in  the  Sixteenth  Century. 


193 


CATHOLIC  UNITY; 

A  sermon  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  Triennial  Convention 
of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  and  German  Reformed 
Churches,  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  August  8th,  1844. 

BY  REV.  JOHN  W.   NEVIN,  D.  D. 

Eph.  IV.  4 — 6. — ^There  is  one  bod}?  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  ye  are 
calledinonehopeof  your  calling  ;  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism  ;one 
God  and  Father  of  all,  w;ho  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all. 

This  is  the  image  of  the  Church,  as  delineated  by  the  hand  of 
an  inspired  Apostle.  In  the  whole  world,  we  find  nothing  so  v§- 
splendently  beautiful  and  glorious,  under  any  other  form.  The 
picture  is  intended  to  enforce  the  great  duty  of  charity  and  peace, 
among  those  who  bear  the  Christian  name.  In  the  preceding 
part  of  the  epistle,  Christ  is  exhibited  as  the  end  of  all  separation 
and  strife  to  them  that  believe,  and  the  author  of  a  new  spiritual 
creation,  in  which  all  former  distinctions  were  to  be  regarded  as 
swallowed  up  and  abolished  forever.  Reference  is  had  in  this 
representation  primarily  to  the  old  division  of  Jew  and  Gentile  ; 
but  in  its  true  spirit  and  sense,  it  is  plainly  as  comprehensive  as 
humanity  itself,  and  looks  therefore  directly  to  every  other  dis- 
tinction of  the  same  sort,  that  ever  has  been  or  ever  shall  be 
known  in  the  world.  Christianity  is  the  universal  solvent,  in 
which  all  opposites  are  required  to  give  up  their  previous  affinities, 
no  matter  how  old  and  stubborn,  and  flow  together  in  a  new  com- 
bination, pervaded  with  harmony  only  and  light  at  every  point. 
"In  Christ  Jesus,  neither  circumcision  availeth  anything,  nor  un- 
circumcision,  but  a  new  creature."  "Those  who  were  far  off,  are 
made  nigh  by  his  blood*"  "He  is  our  peace,  who  hath  made 
both  one,  and  hath  broken  down  the  middle  wall  of  partition  be- 
tween us;  making  in  himself  of  twain  one  new  man."  In  him, 
all  spiritual  antagonism  among  men  is  subverted.  The  human 
world  is  reconciled  first  with  God,  and  then  with  itself,  by  entering 
with  living  consciousness  into  the  ground  of  its  own  Jife  as  revealed- 
in  his  person.  Such  is  the  idea  of  the  Church,  which  is  "  the 
body  of  Christ,  the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all."  And 
now  at  length,  passing  from  doctrine  to  practice,  the  Apostle  callg^ 

17.* 


upon  those  to  whom  he  wrote  to  surrender  themselves  fully  to  the 
claims  of  this  exalted  constitution.  "I  therefore,  the  prisoner  of 
the  Lord  beseech  you,  that  ye  walk  worthy  of  the  vocation  where- 
with ye  are  called.  With  all  lowliness  and  meekness,  with  long- 
suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in  love  ;  endeavoring  to  keep 
the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace."  Such  a  temper,  and 
such  a  life,  are  necessarily  included  in  the  very  conception  of  the 
Church,  as  here  described.  "There  is  one  body  and  one  Spirit, 
even  as  ye  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling  ;  one  Lord,  one 
faith,  one  baptism  ;  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all, 
and  through  all,  and  in  you  all."  He  does  not  say.  Let  there  be 
one  body  and  one  Spirit,  as  simply  urging  Christians  to  seek 
such  agreement  among  themselves  as  might  justify  this  view  of 
their  state  ;  but  the  fact  is  assumed  as  already  in  existence,  and  is 
made  the  ground  accordingly  of  the  exhortation  that  goes  before. 
There  is  one  body  and  Spirit,  and  therefore  are  ye  bound  to  keep 
the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  The  unity  of  the 
i  Church  is  not  something  which  results  first  from  the  thought  and 
/purpose  of  the  vast  membership,  of  which  it  is  composed  ;  but  on 
I  the  contrary,  it  is  the  ground  out  of  which  this  membership  itself 
\  springs,  and  in  which  perpetually  it  stands,  and  from  which  it 
j  must  derive  evermore  all  its  harmony,  and  stability,  and  activity, 
■and  strength. 

From  the  beginning,  this  great  truth  has  dwelt  deep  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  Christian  world.  Through  all  ages,  and  in  all 
lands,that  consciousness  has  been  uttering  itself  as  with  one  mouth, , 
in  the  article  of  the  creed,  Ibelieve  in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church. 
The  Church  is  one  and  universal.  Her  unity  is  essential  to  her 
existence.  Particular  Christians,  and  particular  congregations, 
and  particular  religious  denominations,  can  be  true  to  themselves, 
only  as  they  stand  in  the  full,  free  sense  of  this  thought,  and 
make  it  the  object  of  their  calling  to  fulfil  its  requisitions.  The 
manifold  is  required  to  feel  itself  one.  All  particularism  here 
must  be  false,  that  seeks  to  maintain  itself  as  such,  in  proportion 
exactly  as  it  is  found  in  conflict  with  the  general  and  universal, 
as  embraced  in  the  true  idea  of  the  body  of  Christ. 

I  propose  to  consider,  in  the  further  prosecution  of  the  subject 
at  this  time,  y??'5/,  the  Nature  and  Constitution  of  the  Holy  Catho- 
lic Church,  in  the  view  now  stated  ;  and  secondly^  the  Duty  of 
Christians  as  it  regards  the  unity,  by  which  it  is  declared  to  be 
thus  Catholic,  and  holy,. and  true. 


195 

I.  We  are  to  consider  the  Nature  of  Catholic  Unity,  ««•( 
comprehended  constitutionally  in  the  idea  of  the  Chris-] 
tian  Church. 

Unity  does  not  exclude  the  idea  of  difference  and  multiplicity.  J ' 
Indeed  it  is  only  by  nneans  of  these,  that  it  can  ever  appear  under 
an  actual,  concrete  form.     Where  the  one  does  not  carry  in  itself 
the  possibility  of  separation  and  distinction,  it  can  never  be  more 
than  a    sheer  abstraction,   an  absolute  nullity.     The  idea  of  one- 
ness, however,  does  require,  that  the  different  and  the  manifold  as 
comprehended  in  it,  should  be  in  principle  the  same,  and  that  all 
should  b©  held  together  by  the   force  of  this  principle  actively  felt 
at  every  point.     Such  is  the  unity  of  the  Christian  Church.     It  isj 
composed  of  a  vast  number  of  individual  members  ;  but  these  arel 
all  actuated  by  the  power  of  a  common  life,  and  the  whole  of  this^ 
life  gathers  itself  up  ultimately  or  fundamentally  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ.     He  is  the  principle  or  root  of  the  Church  ;  and  the 
Church  through  all  ages,  is  one,  simply  because  it  stands,  in  the 
presence  and  power  of  this  root,  universally  and  forever.* 

Every  Christian,  as  such,  is  the  subject  of  a  new  spiritual  life, 
that  did  not  belong  to  him  in  his  natural  state.  This  is  in  no 
sense  from  himselfl  for  that  which  is  born  of  the  flesh,  is  flesh, 
and  cannot  be  cultivated  into  any  higher  character.  Only  that 
which  is  born  of  the  Spirit,  is  spirit.  The  Christian  has  his  life 
from  Christ.  He  is  not  only  placed  in  a  new  relation  to  the  law,~"\ 
by  the  imputation  of  the  Savior's  righteousness  to  him  in  an  out- 
ward  forensic  way  ;  but  a  new  nature  is  imparted  to  him  also,  by 
an  actual  communication  of  the  Savior's  life  over  into  his  person. 
In  his  regeneration,  he  is  inwardly  united  to  Christ,  by  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  thus  brought  within  the  sphere  of  that 
"law  of  the  spirit  of  life,"  by  which  in  the  end  the  "law  of  sin  and 
death"  is  overpowered  and  destroyed  in  all  them  that  believe.  A 
divine  seed  is  implanted  in  him,  the  germ  of  a  new  existence, 
which  is  destined  gradually  to  grow  and  gather  strength,  till  the 
whole  man  shall  be  at  last  fully  transformed  into  its  image.  The 
new  nalfire  thus  introduced  is  the  nature  of  Christ,  and  it  con- 
tinues to  be  his  nature  through  the  whole  course  of  its  develop-, 
ment,  onward  to  the  last  day.  The  believer  has  indeed  a  sepa- 
rate  individual  existence  ;.but  this  existepce  has  its  ground  in  the 
life  of  Christ,  just  as  in  any  other  case  the  individual  begins  at 
first  and  stands  always,  afterwards,  in  the  force   of  the  generic 

*   Ificorvorari  enjm  (ut  ita  loquar)  nos  Chriato  oportet  primnin,  ut 
inter  nos  wiamvn,.    Calvin,  on  1  Gor.  X,  16.. 


196 

nature  to  which  it  belongs.     His  sanctificalion  does  not  consist- im 

his  being  engaged  simply  to  copy  the  excellencies  of  Christ,  as  a 

man  might  adtnire  and  copy  the  character  of  a  Moses  or  a  Paul  ; 

\  but  it  consists  in  this,  that  the  very  life  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  found 

j  reaching  over  into  his  person,    and  gradually  transfusing  it  with 

its  ov/n  heavenly  force.     The  old  nature  is  not  at  once  destroyed  ; 

but  the  new  nature  of  Christ  is  inclosed  in  it,  as  the  papilio  in  the 

folds  of  the  chrysalis,  and  in  due  time  this  last  must  triumph  over 

the  first  entirely,  leaving  it  behind  as  an  empty  sepulchre  in  the 

;  final  resurrection.     Thus   emphatically,    Christ  and  the  believer 

'  are  one.     Because  I  live,  we  hear  him  say,  ye  shall  live  also.  He 

that  is  joined  to  the  Lord  is  one  Spirit. 

This  mystical  union,  as  it  is  sometimes  termed,  is  much  more 
strict,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  than  is  commonly  imagined. 
There  is  none  on  earth  more  intimate  and  inward.  It  is  real  and 
close  as  the  union,  which  binds  the  branches  to  the  trunk  of  the 
vine.  It  forms  such  a  bond,  as  holds  between  the  members  and 
the  head  of  the  same  natural  body.  "Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of 
the  Son  of  Man,"  Christ  himself  has  said,  "and  drink  his  blood, 
ye  have  no  life  in  you.  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my 
blood,  hath  eternal  life,  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day. 
For  my  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and  my  blood  is  drink  indeed.  lie 
that  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood,  dwelleth  in  me,  and. 
I  in  him.  As  the  living  Father  hath  sent  me,  and  I  live  by  the 
Father,  so  he  that  eateth  me,  even  he  shall  live  by  me."  This  is 
)  indeed  figurative  language  ;  but  if  it  have  any  meaning  at  all,  it 
I  teaches  that  the  union  of  the  believer  with  Christ  is  not  simply 
;'  moral,  the  harmony  of  purpose,  thought  and  feeling,  but  substan- 
tial and  real,  involving. oneness  of  nature.  "We  are  members  of, 
his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of  his  bones."* 

*  The  passage,  Eph.  V.  30,  with  its  w^hole  connection,  is  very  M'on- 
derful.  Rationalizing  commentators  of  coarse  endeavor  to  turn  it  into 
mere  sound  or  figure  ;  with  violence  however  to  the  entire  spirit  of  the 
text  as  well  as  its  letter.  C'«/?;m  is  clear  upon  it,  and  strong.  The 
language,  he  tells  us  is  not  hyperbolical,  but  simple.  Nor  does  it  refer 
to  Christ's  general  participation  of  the  human  nature,  but  to  s^unetliing 
more  emphatic  in  his  relation  to  his  people.  As  Eve  was  formed  from 
the  side  of  Adam,  and  was  thus  a  part  of  himself,  so  we  are  made 
members  of  Christ  by  coalescing  into  one  body  with  him  througli  a  par- 
ticipation of  his  substance.'  The  power  of  this  truth  is  exhibited  to  us 
in  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  the  apostle  has  here  in  his  mind.  "Totum 
autem  ex  co  pendet,  quod  uxor  ex  came  et  ex  ossibus  viri 
form ata  est ;  eadem  ergo  unionis  inter  nos  et  Christum  ratio,  quod  se 
quodammodo  in  nos  transfundit.  Neque  cnim  ossa  sumus  ex  ossibua 
ejus  etcaro  ex  came,  quia  ipse  nobiscum  est  homo  ;  sed  quia  Spiritus 
sui  virtute  nos  in  corpus  suum  inserit,  ut  vitam  ex  eo  hauria- 
irius." 


197 

This  may  sound  mystical  ;  but  after  all  it  is  no  more  difficult 
to  comprehend  than  the  fact  of  our  union  to  the  same  exicnt  with 
the  person  of  the  first  Adam.  As  descended  from  him  by  natural 
generation,  we  are  not  only  like  hinr^in  outward  form  and  inward 
spirit,  but  we  participate  truly  and  properly  in  his  very  nature. 
We  are  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of  his  bones.  His 
humanity,  soul  and  body,  has  passed  over  into  our  persons.  And 
so  it  is  in  the  case  of  the  second  Adam,  as  it  regards  the  trulv 
regeneraie.  They  are  inserted  into  his  life,  through  faith,  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  become  thus  incorporated  with  it, 
as  fully  as  they  were  before  with  that  corrupt  life  they  had  by 
their  natural  birth.  The  whole  humanity  of  Christ,  soul  and 
body,  is  carried  over  by  the  process  of  the  Christian  salvation 
into  the^  person  of  the  believer;  so  that  in  the  end  his  glorified 
body,  no  less  than  his  glorified  soul,  will  appear  as  the  natural 
and  necessary  product  of  the  life,  in  which  he  is  thus  made  to 
participate.*  His  resurrection  is  only  his  regeneration,  fully  re- 
vealed at  last  and  complete.  Our  life  now  is  hid  with  Christ  in 
God  ;  but  when  he  appearelh,  then  shall  we  also  appear  with  him 
in  glory.  The  Christian  is  spoken  of  at  times  accordingly,  as 
already  the  subject  of  all  that  has  been  reached  in  the  personal 
life  of  the  Savior.  He  is  not  only  dead  with  him,  but  risen  also, 
and  exalted  along  with  him  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  This  re- 
presentation rests  throughout  upon  the  fact,  that  his  life  is  ground- 
ed in  the  life  of  Christ,  and  so  includes  potentially  all  that  belongs 
to  this  from  the  beginning. 

*  Carnem  ergo  Christi,  sineulUs  ambag-ibus,  fateiriur  esse  vivificarn  ; 
non  tantiim  quia  semel  in  ea  nobis  salus  parta  est,  sed  quia  nunc  dum 
sacra  unitate  cam  Christo  coalescimus,  eadem  ilia  caro  vitam  in  nos 
spirat,  vel  ut  brevius  dicam,  quia  arcana  Spiritus  virtute  in  Christi 
corpus  insiti,  communem  habemus  cum  ipso  vitam.  Calvin,  Consens. 
de  Re  Sacram.  0pp.  Tom,  IX  {^mMerdarn  Ed.  16(>7)  p.  657. — Jam 
quis  non  videt,  communionem  carnis  et  sanguinis  Christi  necessariam 
esse  omnibus,  qui  ad  coelestem  vitam  aspirant  1  Hue  spectant  ijlae 
Apostoli  sententiae  (Ephes.  1  :  23,  et  4  :  15,)  Ecclesiam  corpus  esse 
Christi  et  ejus  complementum,  ipsum  vero  esse  caput,  exquototum 
corpus  coagmentatum  et  compactam  per  commissuras,  incrementum 
corporis  facit ;  corpora  nostra  membra  esse  Christi  (1  Cor.  6  :  15.). 
Quae  omnia  non  posse  alitor  effici  intelligimus,  quin  totus  spiritu  et 
corpore  nobis  adhaereat.  Sed  arctissimara  illam  societatem,  qua  ejus 
corni  copulamur,  splendidiore  adhuc  elogio  illustravit,  quum  dixit,  nos 
esse  membra  corporis  ejus  ex  ossibus  ejus  et  ex  carne  ejus  (Ephes.  5  : 
30.).  Tandem  ut  rem  omnibus  verbis  majorem  testatur,  sermonem  ex- 
clamatione  finit,  Magnum  (inquit)  istud  arcanum  !  Extremae  ergo 
dementiae  fuerit,  nuUam  agnoscere  cum  carne  et  sanguine  Domini 
fideliura  communionem,  quam  tantam  esse  declarat  Apostolus,  ut  eanii 
admirari,  quam  explicare  malit.     Instit.  IV.  17.  9„ 


198 

The  idea  of  this  inward  union  on  the  part  of  the  believer  with 
the  entire  humanity  of  Christ,  has  in  all  ages  entered  deeply  into 
the  consciousness  of  the  Church.  Hence  no  doubt  much  of  the 
favor  which  has  been  showr^  towards  popish  and  semipopish  er- 
rors, in  the  case  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Hence  too  the  earnest- 
ness, with  which  the  reformers  generally  maintained  the  doctrine 
of  the  real  presence  in  this  sacrament.  They  saw  and  felt,  more 
clearly  than  many  of  their  followers  seem  to  see  and  feel  now, 
that  the  life  of  the  believer  involves  a  communion  with  the  body 
of  Christ,  as  well  as  with  his  spirit.  Calvin  is  particularly  strong 
with  regard  to  this  point  ;  and  some  have  found  it  hard  to  find 
any  sense  whatever  in  his  language  on  the  subject.*  But  after 
all  there  is  no  sjreater  darkness  in  it,  than  is  presented  by  Paul, 
when  he  says.  We  are  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of 
his  bones.  Thus  also  we  are  taught  in  the  Heidelbergh  Catechism, 
that  to  eat  the  crucified  body  and  drink  the  shed  blood  of  Christ, 
is  "not  only  to  embrace  with  a   believing  heart  all  the  sufi'erings 

*  Dr.  Dick  {Lectures  on  Theology^')  though  of  no  great  weight  in 
himself  may  be  taken  perhaps  as  a  pretty  fair  representative  of  the  pre- 
vailing modern  view,  when  he  says  {Led.  XCT,)  after  giving  a  quota- 
tion from  Calvin  :  "I  confess  I  do  not  understand  this  passage.  It 
supposes  a  communion  of  believers  in  the  human  nature  of  our  Savior 
in  the  Eucharist,  and  endeavors  to  remove  the  objection  arising  from 
the  distance  of  place,  by  a  reference  to  the  Almighty  power  of  the 
Spirit,  much  in  the  same  way  as  Papists  and  Lutherans  solve  the  diffi- 
culty attending  their  respective  systems.  If  Calvin  had  meant  only 
that,  in  the  Sacred  Supper,  believers  have  fellowship  with  Christ  in 
his  death,  he  would  have  asserted  an  important  truth,  attested  by  the 
experience  of  the  people  of  God  in  every  age  ;  but  why  did  he  obscure 
it,  and  destroy  its  simplicity,  by  involving  it  in  ambiguous  language  T 
If  he  had  anything  different  in  view;  if  he  meant  that  there  is  some 
mysterious  communication  with  his  human  nature,  we  must  be  permit- 
ted to  say  that  the  notion  was  as  incomprehensible  to  himself  as  it  is  to 
his  readers."  That  Calvin  did  entertain  this  last  "notion,"  there  is 
not  the  least  room  to  doubt ;  and  as  may  be  seen  in  the  foregoing  note, 
he  lield  it  to  be  insane  {exiremae  demeJiiiae)  to  have  any  other  opinion. 
The  view  accepted  by  Dr.  Dick,  from  Zwingli,  he  went  so  far  as  to  call 
profane.  He  is  most  distinct  in  rejectingr  the  idea,  that  the  union  of  the 
believer  with  Christ  is  simply  moral.  To  partake  of  Christ's  body  and 
blood  is  not  merely  to  believe  on  him,  but  a  uiystical  process  which  is 
the  result  of  faith.  Nor  is  it  simply  to  appropriate  his  merits..  "  Ex-. 
cipit  Westphalus,  merita  Christi  vel  benoficia  non  esse  ejus  corpus. 
Sed  cur  locutionera,  quasplendide  nostram  cum  Christo  communionem 
commendo  maligne  extenuatl  Neque  enim  tantum  dico  applicare  meri- 
ta, sed  ex  ipso  Christi  corpore  alimentum  porcipere  animas,  non  secus 
ao  terreno  pane  corpus  vescitur."  0pp.  Tom.  IX.  p.  668.  Nor  is  it 
enough  with  him  to  say,  we  partake  of  Christ's  Spirit.  "Neque  enim 
simpliciter  Spiritu  sue  Christum  in  nobis   habitare*  trade,  sed  itji nos., 


Id9 

atid  death  of  Christ,  and  thereby  to  obtain  the  pardon  of  sin  and 
life  eternal  ;  but  also,  besides  that,  to  become  more  and  more 
united  to  his  sacred  body,  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  dwells  both  in 
Christ  and  in  us  ;  so  that  we,  though  Christ  is  in  heaven  and  we 
on  earth,  are  notwithstanding,  flesh  of  his  flesh,  and  bone  of  his 
bone  ;  and  that  we  live  and  are  governed  forever  by  one  Spirit, 
as  members  of  the  same  body   are  by  one  soul." 

Partaking  in  this  way  of  one  and  the  same  life.  Christians  of 
course  are  vitally  related  and  joined  together  as  one  great  spiritual 
whole  ;  and  this  Vv'hole  is  the  Church.  The  Church  is  his  body, 
the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all.  The  union  by  which  it 
is  held  together,  through  all  ages,  is  strictly  organic.  The  Church 
is  not  a  mere  aggregation  or  collection  ofdilTerent  individuals, 
drawn  together  by  similarity  of  interests  and  wants  ;  not  an  ab- 1 
straction  simply,  by  which  the  common  in  the  midst  of  such  mul- 
tifarious distinction,  is  separated  and  put  together  under  a  single  : 
general  term.     It  is  not  merely  the  all  that  covers  the  actual  ex^  j 

ad  se  attollere,  ut  vivificum  carnis  suae  vigorem  in  nos  transfundat." 
Ibid.  p.  669.  He  will  hear  of  nothing  less  than  a  participation  of 
Christ's  substance,  soul  and  body:  "Carnem  Christi  nobis  edendam  pro- 
poni  siquis  sincere  et  luculente  tradit,  ego  unus  sum  ex  niiraero  ;  mo- 
dum  tantum  definio,  quod  Spiritus  sui  virtute  Christus  locorum  distan- 
tiam  superet,  ad  vitam  nobis  e  sua  came  inspirandam."  Ibid.  p.  670. 
"In  sacra  sua  Coena  jubet  me  sub  symbolis  panis  ac  vini  corpus  ac 
sanguinem  suum  sumere,  manducare  ac  bibere  ;  nihil  dubito,  quin  et 
ipse  vere  porrigat  et  ego  recipiam."  Inst.  IV.  17.  32.  It  is  useless 
however  to  multiply  extracts.  Calvin's  doctrine  on  this  point  is  in  no 
respect  uncertain.  Nor  was  he  singular  at  all  in  his  view.  It  was  in 
fact  the  established  view  of  the  entire  Reformed  Church,  in  the  Six- 
teenth Century  ;  for  the  bald  theory  of  Zwingli  outraged  the  religious 
consciousness  of  the  age.  "There  is  no  controversy  among  us,"  says 
Zanchius,  "whether  the  bread  in  the  right  use  of  the  Supper  be  truly 
the  body  of  Christ  ;  the  only  question  is  concerning  the  manner  in 
which  the  bread  is  his  body."  All  the  Reformed  Confessions  speak 
in  the  same  strain.  The  Belgic  Confession,  for  instance,  after  telling  us 
that  the  mode  of  the  communication  is  incomprehensible,  does  not  hesi- 
tate, insisting  still  upon  the  reality  of  it  as  it  had  been  previously  af- 
firmed, to  employ  the  strong  expression  ;  "Interea  vero  nequaquam 
erraverimus  dicentes,  id,  quod  comeditur,  esse  proprium  et  naturale 
corpus  Christi,  idque  quod  bibitur,  proprium  ejus  sanguinem."  Those 
who  choose  to  do  so,  may  pour  contempt  on  all  this  as  the  "obsolete 
mysticism  of  the  Reformers."  But  such  would  do  well  at  the  same 
time  to  consider  seriously,  whether  in  departing  from  the  orthodoxy  of 
the  Sixteenth  Century  at  this  point,  they  may  not  have  yielded  their 
own  minds  possibly  to  the  power  of  a  rationalizing  element,  which  if  it 
were  rigidly  pushed  to  its  consequences  could  hardly  stop  short  of 
Socinianism  itself. 


tent  of  its  membership,  but  the  whole  rather  in  which  this  mem- 
ijership  is  comprehended  and  determined  from  the  beginning. 
The  Church  does  not  rest  upon  its  members,  but  the  members 
rest  upon  the  Church.  Individual  Christianity  is  not  something 
older  than  general  Christianity,  but  the  general  in  this  case  goes 
before  the  particular,  and  rules  and  conditions  all  its  manifesta^ 
tions.  So  it  is  with  every  organic  nature.  The  whole  is  older 
and  deeper  than  the  parts  ;  and  these  last  spring  forth  perpetually 
from  the  active  presence  of  the  first.  The  parts  in  the  end  ate 
only  the  revelation  of  what  was  previously  included  in  the  whole. 
The  oak  of  a  hundred  years,  and  the  acorn  from  which  it  has 
sprung,  are  the  same  life.  All  that  we  behold  in  the  oak,  lay  hid 
in  the  acorn  from  the  start.  So  too  the  human  world  all  slept 
originally  in  the  common  root  of  the  race.  Adam  was  not  simp- 
ly a  man,  like  others  since  born  ;  but  he  was  the  man,  who  com- 
prehended in  himself  all  that  has  since  appeared  in  other  men. 
Humanity  as  a  whole  resided  in  his  person.  He  was  strictly 
land  truly  the  world.  Through  all  ages,  man  is  organically  one 
hand  the  same.  And  parallel  with  this  precisely  is  the  constitution 
^Of  the  Church.  The  second  Adam  corresponds  in  all  respects 
with  the  first.  He  is  not  a  man  merely,  an  individual  belonging 
to  the  race  ;  but  he  is  the  man,  emphatically  the  Son  of  Man, 
comprising  in  his  person  the  new  creation,  or  humanity  recovered 
and  redeemed,  as  a  whole.  Whatever  the  Church  becomes  in 
the  way  of  development,  it  can  never  be  more  in  fact  than  it  was 
in  him  from  the  beginning.  Its  life  is  not  multiplied  nor  extended 
in  quantity,  by  its  growth.  Christ  is  the  root  of  the  Church;  and 
to  the  end  of  time  it  can  include  no  more  in  its  proper  life,  how- 
ever widely  distributed,  than  what  is  included  in  the  root  itself. 

V     The  unity  of  the  Church  then  is  a  cardinal  truth,  in  the  Chris- 
jjtian  system.     It  is  involved  in  the  conception  of  the  Christian  sal- 
j/vation  itself.     To  renounce  it,  or  lose  sight  of  it,  is  to  make  ship- 
r  wreck  of  the  gospel,  to  the  same  extent.     There  is  no  room  here 
for  individualism  or  particularism,  as  such.     An  individual  dis- 
sociated  entirely   from  his  race,  would  cease  to  be  a  man.     And 
just  so  the  conception  of  individual  or  particular  Christianity,  as 
something  independent  of   the  organic  whole,  which  we  denomi- 
nate the  Church,  is  a  moral   solecism  that    necessarily    destroys 
itself.     Christ  cannot  be  divided.     The  members   of  the  natural 
body  are  united  to  the  head,  only  by  belonging  to  the  body  itself. 
Separated  from  this,   they  cease  to    have   any  proper  existence. 
/  And  so  it  is  here.     We   are  not   Christians,  each  one  by  himself 
/  and  for  himself,  but  we  become  such  through  the  Church.  Christ 
J  lives  in  his  people,  by  the  life  which  fills  his  body,  the  Church  ; 


201 

and  they    are    thus    all    necessarily    one,  before   they    can  be 
many.* 

The  life  of  Christ  in  the  Church,  is  in  the  first  place  inward  and 
invisible.  But  to  be  rea'l,  it  must  also  become  outward.  The 
salvation  of  the  individual  believer  is  not  complete,  till  the  body 
is  transfigured  and  made  glorious,  as  well  as  the  soul ;  and  as  it 
has  respect  to  the  whole  nature  of  man  from  the  commencement, 
it  can  never  go  forward  at  all  except  by  a  union  of  the  outward 
and  inward  at  every  point  of  its  progress.  Thus  too  the  Church 
must  be  visible,  as  well  as  invisible.  In  no  other  way  can  the 
idea  become  real.  Soul  and  body,  inward  power  and  outward 
form,  are  required  here  to  go  together.  Outward  forms  without 
inward  life  can  have  no  saving  force.  But  neither  can  inward 
life  be  maintained,  on  the  other  hand,  without  outward  forms. 
The  body  is  not  the  man  ;  and  yet  there  can  be  no  man,  where  ' 
there  is  no  body.  Humanity  is  neither  a  corpse  on  the  one 
hand,  nor  a  phantom  on  the  other.  The  Church  then  must  ap- 
pear externally,  in  the  world.  And  the  case  requires  that  this 
manifestation  should  correspond  with  the  inward  constitution  of 
the  idea  itself.  It  belongs  to  the  proper  conception  of  it,  that  the 
unity  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  should  appear  in  an  outward 
and  visible  way  ;  and  it  can  never  be  regarded  as  complete, 
where  such  development  of  its  inward  power  is  still  wanting. 
"There  is  one  body,''^  the  Apostle  tells  us,  "and  one  Spirit,  even  as 
ye  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling."  Such  is  the  true 
normal  character  of  the  Church  ;  and  so  far  as  it  may  fall  short 
of  this  it  labors  under  serious  defect. 

The  Apostle  does  not  mean  to  affirm  however,  that  the  want  of 
such   outward  and   visible    unity    necessarily  and  at  once  over* 

*  Nee  vero  satis  est  electorura  turbam  cogitatione  et  animoque  com- 
plecti,  nisi  talem  ecclesiae  unitatem  cogitemiis,  in  quam  nos  esse  insi- 
tos  vere  simas  persuasi.  Nisi  enira  sub  capita  nostro  Christo  coadunati 
simus  reliquis  omnibus  membris,  nulla  nobis  manet  spes  haereditatis 
futurae.  Ideo  Cktholica  dicitur,  seu  universalis  ;  quia  non  duas  aut 
Ires  invenire  liceat  quin  discerpatur  Christus  ;  quod  fieri  non  potest. 
Quin  sic  electi  Dei  omnes  in  Christo  sunt  connexi,  ut  quemadmodum 
ab  uno  capita  pendent,  ita  in  unum  valut  corpus  coalescant,  ea  inter 
se  compaga  cohaerentes,  qua  ejusdem  corporis  membra.  Cdlv.  Tnstit. 
IV.  I.  2.  Speakings  afterwards  of  the  visible  Church  as  carrying  the 
title  Mother^  he  says  :  non  alius  est  in  vitam  ingressus,  nisi  nos  ipsa 
concipiat  in  utero,  nisi  pariat,nisi  nos  alat  suis  uberibus,  denique'sub 
custodia  et  gubernatione  sua  nos  teneat,  donee  exuti  carne  mortali, 
similes  erimus  angelis.  —  Adda  quod  extra  ejus  gremium  nulla  est 
speranda  peccatorum  remissio,  nee  ulla  salus.     lb.  §.  4. 

18 


202 

thro\\s  the  existence  of  the  Church.  It  is  seldom  that  the  actual, 
in  ihe  sphere  of  Christianity,  fully  corresponds  with  the  ideal. 
And  as  a  general  thing,  this  correspondence,  so  far  as  it  may 
be  secured  In  any  case,  is  reached  only  in  a  gradual  way.  The 
inward  requires  time  to  impress  its  image  fully  upon  the  outward. 
Reliction  is  a  process  in  the  individual  soul,  and  also  in  the  life  of 
the  Church.  Objectively  considered,  it  is  complete,  and  harmo- 
nious, and  true  to  itself  at  every  point,  from  the  beginning  ;  but 
in  becoming  subjective,  all  this  may  seem  for  a  season  to  fail. 
The  life  of  Christ  in  the  Church  includes  in  itself  potentially  from 
the  first,  all  that  it  can  ever  become  in  the  end.  But  it  may 
happen  that  for  a  long  time  this  hidden  force  shall  be  embarrassed 
and  repressed  by  untoward  influences,  so  as  not  to  find  its  ade- 
quate  form  and  action  in  the  actual  order  of  the  Church.  Thus 
we  behold  at  this  time  the  Christian  world  in  fact,  broken  into 
various  denominations,  with  separate  confessions  and  creeds, 
among  which  too  often  polemic  zeal  appears  far  more  promineni 
than  catholic  charity.  Such  distraction  and  division  can  never  be 
vindicated,  as  suitable  to  the  true  conception  of  the  Church.  They 
disfi<Ture  and  obscure  its  proper  glory,  and  give  a  false,  distorted 
image  of  its  inward  life.  Still  the  Church  is  not  on  this  account 
subverted,  or  shut  up  to  the  precints  of  some  single  sect,  arrogant- 
ly claiming  to  be  the  whole  body.  The  life  with  which  it  is  ani- 
mated does  indeed  seek  an  outward  revelation  in  all  respects  an- 
swerable  to  its  own  nature;  and  it  can  never  be  fully  satisfied, 
till  this  be  happilv  secured  ;  but  as  a  process,  strugghng  constant- 
ly  towards  such  end,  it  may  be  vigorously  active  at  the  sam.e 
time,  under  forms  that  bear  no  right  proportion  whatever  to  its 
wants.  We  may  not  doubt  therefore,  but  that  in  the  midst  of  all 
the  denominational  distinctions,  which  have  come  to  prevail  par- 
ticularly since  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  the  life  of  the  Church, 
with  all  its  proper  attributes,  is  still  actively  at  work  in  every 
evangelical  communion.  The  "  one  body,''  most  unfortunately, 
is  wanting  for  the  present  ;  but  the  "one  Spirit,"  reigns  substan- 
tially notwithstanding  through  all  communions,  and  binds  them 
toc^ether  as  a  great  spiritual  whole.  Joined  together  in  the  com- 
mon life  of  Christ,  in  the  possession  of  one  faith,  one  hope,  and 
one  baptism,  the  various  divisions  of  the  Christian  world,  are  still 
organically  the  same  Church.  In  this  form,  we  hold  fast  to  the 
idea  of  Catholic  Unity,  as  the  only  ground  m  which  any  true 
Christianitv,  individual  or  particular  can  possibly  stand.       • 


*08 

II.  Having  in  this  general  way  considered  the  nature  of  that 
oneness  which  belongs  to  the  constitution  of  the  Catholic 
Churchy  we  are  prepared  to  contemplate,  in  the  second 
place,  the  Duty  of  Christians  with  regard  to  it. 

This  is  comprehended  generally  in  the  obligation  of  all,  ear- 
nestly and  actively  to  seek  the  unity  of  the  Church,  in  its  most 
complete  form.  We  have  seen  that  in  the  actual  circumstances 
of  the  Church,  idea  and  fact  do  not  for  the  most  part  fully  corres- 
pond. It  is  only  in  the  way  of  development  and  process  most 
generally,  that  we  find  the  first  revealing  itself  in  the  form  of  the 
second.  Thus  the  unity  of  the  Church,  is  something  which  is  not 
at  once  realized,  as  a  matter  of  course,  by  the  appearance  of  the 
Church  in  the  world.  The  actual,  in  fact,  stands  far  behind  the 
ideal.  But  still  this  relation  cannot  be  rested  in  as  ultimate  and 
right.  It  can  hold  with  truth,  only  as  an  intermediate  stage, 
through  which  the  life  of  the  Church  is  constantly  struggling  to- 
wards a  revelation,  that  shall  be  in  all  respects  adequate  to  its 
nature.  This  development  is  not  blind  of  course  and  necessary, 
as  in  the  sphere  of  mere  nature,  but  moral,  involving  intelligence 
and  will.  The  Church  is  required  to  seek  and  maintain  her  own 
unity  ;  and  this  obligation  falls  back  necessarily  in  the  end  upon 
Christians  as  such.  They  are  bound  to  maintain  "  the  unity  of 
the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,"  and  cannot  be  true  to  their  voca- 
tion, except  as  they  consciously  endeavour,  so  far  as  in  them  lies, 
to  have  this  unity  made  in  the  largest  sense  complete  ;  so  that  all 
Christ's  people  may  be  "one  body"  as  well  as  "one  spirit,"  even 
as  they  are  called  in  one  hope  of  their  calling. 

This  might  seem  to  be  in  some  sense  the  great  necessity  of  the 
Church.  "Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,"  is  the  Savior's  solemn 
language,  "but  for  them  also  which  shall  believe  on  me  through 
their  word  ;  that  they  all  may  be  one  ;  as  thou,  Father,  art  in 
me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us ;  that  the  world 
may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me,"  Wonderful  words  ;  to  be 
understood  only  by  living  communion  with  the  heart  of  Jesus 
himself.  If  such  was  the  spirit  of  Christ,  the  spirit  of  the  Church 
must  necessarily  be  the  same.  The  whole  Church  then  must  be 
regarded  as  inwardly  groaning  over  her  own  divisions,  and  striv- 
ing to  actualize  the  full  import  of  this  prayer  ;  as  though  Christ 
were  made  to  feel  himself  divided,  and  could  not  rest  till  such  un- 
natural violence  should  come  to  an  end.  And  so  if  any  man  be 
in  Christ,  he  cannot  fail,  so  far  as  this  union  may  reach,  to  pray 
and  work  for  the  same  object,  the  Catholic  Unity  of  the  Churcli^ 
as  the  most  important  interest  in  the  world. 


204 

1.  It  is  the  duty  of  all  then,  to  consider  and  lay  to  heart  the 
evil  that  is  comprehended  in  the  actual  disunion  and  division, 
which  now  prevail  in  the  Catholic  Church.  I  say  in  the  Catholic 
Church  ;  because  the  one  Spirit  of  Christ  is  supposed  to  pervade 
the  whole  body,  notwithstanding  this  vast  detect,  binding  it  to- 
gether through  all  parts  of  the  world,  with  the  force  of  a  common 
life.  But  this  cannot  change  the  nature  of  the  evil  itself.  It  only 
renders  it  indeed  the  more  glaring  and  painful.  The  Church 
ought  to  be  visibly  one  and  catholic,  as  she  is  one  and  catholic  in 
her  inward  life  ;  and  the  want  of  such  unity,  as  it  appears  in  the 
present  state  of  the  prolestant  world,  with  its  rampant  sectarian- 
ism and  individualism,  "is  a  lamentation,  and  shall  be  for  a  la- 
mentation," until  of  God's  mercy  the  sore  reproach  be  rolled  away. 

We  frequently  hear  apologies  made  for  the  existence  of  sects  in 
the  Church.  They  are  said  to  be  necessary.  The  freedom  and 
purity  of  the  Church,  we  are  told,  can  be  maintained  only  in  this 
way.  They  provoke  each  other  to  zeal  and  good  works.  With- 
out them,  the  Church  would  stagnate  and  grow  corrupt.  They 
are  but  different  divisions  of  the  same  grand  army,  furnished  for 
battle  variously  according  to  their  several  tastes,  but  all  moving 
in  the  same  direction  against  the  common  foe,  and  forming  togeth- 
er in  this  order  a  more  powerful  array  than  if  no  such  divisions 
had  place. 

This  sounds  well ;  and  no  doubt  many  so  far  impose  upoa 
themselves,  as  to  think  it  all  correct.  But  it  is  false  notwith-. 
standing,  and  injurious  to  Christ.  Our  various  sects,  as  they 
actually  exist,  are  an  immense  evil  in  the  Church.  Whatever 
may  be  said  of  the  possibility  of  their  standing  in  friendly  cor- 
respondence, and  only  stimulating  the  whole  body  to  a  more  vi- 
gorous life,  it  is  certain  that  they  mar  the  unity  of  this  body  ia 
fact,  and  deprive  it  of  its  proper  beauty  and  strength.  The  evil 
may  indeed  in  a  certain  sense  be  necessary  ,*  but  the  necessity  is 
like  that  which  exists  for  the  rise  of  heresies,  itself  the  presence  of 
a  deep  seated  evil,  in  which  the  Church  has  no  right  quietly  to 
acquiesce.  Our  sects,  as  they  actually  stai>d  at  this  time,  are  a 
vast  reproach  to  the  Christian  cause.  By  no  possibility  could 
(hey  be  countenanced  and  approved  as  good,  by  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  if  he  should  appear  again  in  the  world  as  the  visible  head 
pf  his  people.     This  all  must  feel. 

V      We  do  not  suppose  indeed  that  the  visible  unity  of  the  Church 

\demands  a  single  visible  head,  like  the  pope  of  Rome,  who  is  just- 

\ly  styled  Antichrist  for  this  very  pretension.     We  do  not  suppose 

that  it   can  hold  only  under  a  given  organization,  stretching  its. 


205 

arms  from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other,  according  to  the 
dream  of  the  High  Church  Episcopalians.  Bat  this  much  most 
certainly  it  does  require,  that  the  middle  walls  of  partition  as  they 
now  divide  sect  from  sect  should  be  broken  down,  and  the  whole 
Christian  world  brought  not  only  to  acknowledge  and  feel,  but 
also  to  show  itself  evidently  one.  How  far  it  is  from  this  at  the 
present  time,  it  is  not  necessary  to  say.  Now  what  is  wanted, 
first  of  all,  is  a  clear  perception  on  the  part  of  the  Church,  that  is, 
on  the  part  of  Christians  generally,  that  the  want  of  such  visible 
unity  is  wrong,  and  such  a  wrong  as  calls  aloud  continually  for 
redress.  Without  this  most  assuredly,  the  captivity  of  Zion  will 
never  come  to  an  end.  The  heart  of  the  Church  must  be  filled 
with  an  earnest  sense  of  her  own  calamity,  as  thus  torn  and  rent 
with  such  vast  division,  before  she  can  be  engaged  successfully  to 
follow  after  union  and  peace.  Jt  needs  to  be  deeply  pondered 
upon,  that  the  spirit  of  sect  and  party  as  such,  is  contrary  to 
Christ.  The  present  state  of  the  Church  involves  the  sin  of 
schism,  to  a  most  serious  extent.  Denominations  are  not  indeed 
necessarily  sects,  and  every  separate  ecclesiastical  position  is  not 
to  be  denounced  at  once  as  schisinatic.  But  to  whatever  extent 
particular  denominations  may  stand  justified  before  God  in  occupy- 
ing such  positions,  it  is  certain  that  in  some  quarter  a  schismatic 
spirit  must  be  at  work  to  create  and  maintain  the  necessity  by 
which  this  is  supposed  to  be  right.  Take  it  altogether,  there  is 
schism  in  our  divisions.  The  unity  of  Christ's  body  is  not  main- 
tained.  This  it  is  that  challenges  our  attention.  This  we  are 
called  upon  to  consider  and  lay  to  heart. 

Nor  should  it  relieve  the  case  at  all  to  our   feelings,  that  we 
may    not   be  able  to  see   how  it  is  possible  to  bring  this  state  of 
things  to  an  end.     An  evil    does  not  cease  to  be  such,  simply  be- 
cause it  may  seem  to  exclude  all  hope  of  correction.     Those  who 
seek  to  reconcile   us  to  the  system  of  sects  in  the   Church,  by  in- 
sisting  on  the  impossibility  of  reducing  them  to  the  same  commu- 
nion, presume  greatly  either  upon  our  ignorance  or  our  apathy  as 
it  ref^ards  the  claims  of  the   whole  subject.     If  we   know  that  the  ; 
Church  is  called  by  her  very  constitution  to  be  visibly,  as  well  as 
invisibly   one,   we  are  not   likely  to  believe  that  any  difficulties 
which  stand  in  the  way  of  this  are  absolutely  insuperable  in  their  . 
own  nature.     And  if  we  have  come  to  feel  the  weight  of   the  1 
interest  itself,  as  exhibited  in  the  last  prayer  of  the  Savior,  we  are 
not  likely    to  be  soothed  and  quieted  over  the  general  surrendry 
of  it  by  a  view  which  cuts  off  all  hope  of  its  ever  being  recover- 
ed.      Let  it  be  admitted,  that  there  is  no  way  open,  by  which> ' 
we  have  any  prospect  of  seeing  these  walls  of  partition  broken^ 

'  18* 


206 

down  ;  still  it  is  none  the  less  the  duty  of  all  who  love  Christ,  to 
take  to  heart  the  presence  of  the  evil  itself,  and  to  be  humbled 
before  God  on  account  of  it,  and  to  desire  earnestly  that  it  might 
come  to  an  end.  What  is  most  deplorable  in  the  case,  is  that  so 
many  should  be  willing  to  acquiesce  in  it,  as  something  necessa- 
ry and  never  to  be  changed.  And  what  is  most  needed  in  these 
circumstances,  therefore,  is  that  anxiety  and  concern  should  take 
the  place  of  such  indifference,  and  that  men  should  be  brought  to 
acknowledge  openly  the  reigning  wrong  of  these  divisions  in  the 
Church,  and  to  inquire  earnestly  after  some  way  of  escape. 

To  such  earnest  interest  the  subject  is  well  entitled;  for  it 
includes,  as  already  said,  one  of  the  very  deepest  necessities  of 
the  Church..  Can  any  one  suppose,  that  the  order  of  things^ 
which  now  prevails  in  the  Christian  world,  in  the  view  before 
us,  is  destined  to  be  perpetual  and  final  ?  Does  it  not  lie  in  the 
very  conception  of  the  Church,  that  these  divisions  should  pass 
away,  and  make  room  for  the  reign  at  last  of  catholic  unity  and. 
love?  If  sects  as  they  now  appear  have  been  the  necessary  fruit 
of  the  Reformation,  then  must  we  say  that  the  Reformation,  be- 
ing as  we  hold  it  to  be  from  God,  has  not  yet  been  conducted  for- 
ward to  its  last  legitimate  result,  in  this  respect.  What  it  has 
divided,  it  must  have  power  again  in  due  time  to  bring  together 
and  unite.  Our  protestant  Christianity  cannot  continue  to  stand 
in  its  present  form.  A  Church  without  unity  can  neither  conquer 
the  world)  nor  sustain  itself  We  are  bound  therefore  to  expect, 
that  this  unity  will  not  always  be  wanting.  The  hour  is  coming, 
though  it  be  not  now,  when  the  prayer  of  Christ  that  his  Church 
may  be  one,  will  appear  gloriously  fulfilled  in  its  actual  character 
and  state,  throughout  the  whole  world.  But  before  this  great 
change  shall  be  effected,  it  will  be  the  object  first  of  much  earnest 
desire  and  expectation.  Not  while  Christians  continue  to  rest 
contentedly  in  the  present  system,  as  either  sufficiently  good  in 
itself  or  at  least  fatally  incapable  of  remedy,  can  any  such  new 
order  come  forward  to  occupy  its  place.  The  result  will  he\ 
reached,  only  after  it  shall  have  come  to  be  generally  felt  that  the  ii 
present  construction  of  the  Church  is  false  and  wrong  ;  and  when  ' 
with  such  conviction,  the  hearts  of  men  shall  have  been  prepared 
earnestly  to  seek,  and  cordially  to  welcome  a  more  excellent  way. 

It  is  not  by  might  and  by  power,  we  know,  not  by  outward  ur- 
ging and  driving  in  the  common  radical  style,. but  only  by  the 
,  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  that  any  such  revolution  as  this  can  ever  be 
accomplished.  A  crusade  against  sects,  or  a  society  to  put  down 
sects  ;  movements  and  efforts  of  every  kind,  that  address  them- 
selves to  the  overthrow  of  sects,  simply  in  a  negative  way,  can. 


207 

answer  no  good  purpose  here  in  the  end.  If  tlie  evil  is  ever  to  be 
effectually  surmounted,  it  nnusL  be  by  the  growth  of  Christian,  ) 
charity  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church  itself.  No  union  can  be  of  ' 
any  account  at  last,  that  is  not  produced  by  inward  sympathy  and 
agreement  between  the  parties  it  brings  together.  But  this  pre- 
paration of  the  heart  is  itself  something  to  be  sought  and  cultiva- 
ted ;  and  we  may  say  that  the  very  first  step  towards  it,  consists 
in  just  that  consideration  and  concern  which  is  now  represented  to 
be  due  in  the  case  of  Christians  to  the  whole  subject.  In  vain 
may  we  look  for  any  such  deep  inward  action  in  the  Church  as 
is  needed  to  make  room  for  a  closer  external  union,  if  it  begin, 
not  at  least  in  this  form. 

Christians  then  are  bound  to  consider  and  lay  to  heart  the  evil 
state  of  the  Church,  in  the  view  now  contemplated.  This  might 
seem  to  be  indeed  the  most  they  have  it  in  their  power  immediate- 
ly to  do  in  the  circumstances.  It  is  that  therefore  which  is  main- 
ly and  primarily  required.  Nor  may  it  be  regarded  as  of  only 
small  account.  An  immense  object  would  be  gained,  if  simply 
the  conviction  of  deep  and  radical  defect  here  were  made  to  fasten 
itself  upon  the  general  consciousness  of  the  Church.  Without 
this  it  is  in  vain  to  hope  for  deliverance  from  any  other  quarter.. 
But  this  is  not  the  entire  duty  created  by  the  case.  There  is  a 
call  not  merely  for  reflection  and  concern,  but  also  for  action. 

2.  It  has  already  been  admitted,  that  the  interest  in  question  is 
not  to  be  secured  by  any  attempts  towards  a  simply  outward 
reform.  A  no-sect  party  in  the  Church,  bent  only  on  pulling 
down  and  having  no  power  to  reconstruct,  must  ever  be  found 
itself  one  of  the  worst  forms  of  separatism,  aggravatino-  the  mis- 
chief it  proposes  to  heal.  It  is  not  by  renouncing  their  allegiance 
to  particular  denominations,  and  affecting  to  hold  themselves  inde- 
pendent of  all,  that  men  may  expect  to  promote  the  cause  of 
Christian  unity.  The  union  of  the  Church  in  any  case,  is  not  to 
be  established  by  stratagem  or  force.  To  be  valid,  it  must  be  free,  )  ^i 
the  spontaneous  product  of  Christian  knowledge  and  Christian  ^^ 
love.  It  can  never  hold  externally,  till  it  is  made  necessary  by 
the  pressure  of  inward  want,  refusing  to  be  satisfied  on  any  other 
terms.  But  all  this  does  not  involve  the  consequence,  that  there 
is  nothing  to  be  done  on  the  part  of  Christians,  to  hasten  this 
consummation  in  its  time.  It  is  by  inward  and  spiritual  action 
precisely  that  the  way  of  the  Lord  is  to  be  prepared,  for  any  such 
deliverance  ;  and  to  such  action  all  who  love  the  prosperity  of 
Zion  are  solemnly  bound.  Every  Christian  in  his  place  is  re- 
quired to  "keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace."  All 
are  under  obligation  to  cultivate  the  spirit  of  Christian  charity  in, 


'y 


^08 

their  own  hearts  and  to  exemplify  the  power  of  it  in  their  own 
lives.  All  are  bound  to  pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem  ;  and  to 
"bow  their  knees  unto  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of 
whom  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth  is  named,"  that  he 
would  grant  us  all,  even  his  whole  Church  Catholic,  "according 
to  the  riches  of  his  glory,  to  be  strengthened  with  might  by  his 
Spirit  in  the  inner  man  ;  that  Christ  may  dwell  in  our  hearts  by 
faith  ;  that  we,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  may  be  able  to 
comprehend  with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth  and  length  and 
depth  and  height  ;  and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ  which  passeth 
knowledge,  that  we  might  be  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God." 
Unto  this  glorious  object  all  are  required  to  labor,  "striving  accor- 
ding to  his  working,  which  worketh  in  his  people  mightily."  It 
is  demanded  of  all  that  they  should  at  least  endeavor,  more  and 
more,  to  descend  into  the  heart  of  Jesus,  and  take  the  measure  of 
this  great  interest,  as  unfolded  there,  in  what  might  seem  to  be  the 
main  burden  of  his  last  priestly  prayer.  It  is  the  duty  of  all 
to  follow  after  the  things  that  make  for  iioliness  and  peace  ;  and 
to  seek  in  every  way  the  coming  of  God's  kingdom,  with  new 
power  and  glory,  in  the  hearts  of  his  people,  that  they  maybe 
brought  to  understand  and  feel,  continually  more  and  more,  the 
force  of  that  common  life,  by  which  they  are  all  one  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

All  this  would  be  in  the  most  important  sense,  to  "prepare  the 
way  of  the  Lord,  and  to  make  straight  in  the  desert  a  high  way 
for  our  God  ;"  and  the  result  of  it  would  soon  be,  that  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  should  be  revealed,  and  all  flesh  made  to  see  it  togeth- 
er. When  it  shall  have  come  to  this,  that  by  such  inward  and 
spiritual  action  the  Church  shall  be  fully  ripe  for  union,  the  diffi- 
culties that  now  stand  in  the  way  will  be  soon  found  crumbling 
and  dissolving  into  thin  air.  "Every  valley  shall  be  exalted,  and 
every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be  made  low  ;  and  the  crooked 
shall  be  made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain."  It  may  be 
utterly  impossible  for  us  to  anticipate  before  hand,  the  way  in 
which  this  shall  take  place,  or  the  form  under  which  it  shall 
appear.  But  in  the  circumstances  supposed,  the  want  will  pro- 
vide for  itself.  The  life  that  is  at  work  will  find  room  and  scope, 
in  some  way,  for  its  own  free  action.  With  reference  to  every 
such  case,  it  is  written  :  "  Behold  I  will  do  a  new  thing  ;  now  it 
shall  spring  forth  ;  shall  ye  not  know  it  ?  I  will  even  make  a 
way  in  the  wilderness,  and  rivers  in  the  desert.  The  beast  of 
the  field  shall  honor  me,  the  dragons  and  the  owls  ;  because  I 
give  waters  in  the  wilderness,  and  rivers  in  the  desert,  to  give 
drink  to  my  people,  my  chosen."  That  which  is  impossible  with 
men,  is  easily  accomplished  by  God. 


20& 

3.  Then  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Church,  in  the  third  place,  to  ob- 
serve and  improve  all  opportunities,  by  which  it  is  made  possible 
in  any  measure,  from  time  to  time,  to  advance  in  a  visible  way 
the  interest  of  catholic   unity.      The   reformation  that  is  needed 
must  indeed   spring  spontaneously  from  within  ;  but  the  process 
can  go    forward   notwithstanding  only    in  the  exercise  of  intelli- 
gence and  will,  and  by  the  help  of  counsel,  forethought,  and  wise 
calculation,  at  every  point.     We  are  not  at  liberty  in  the  case  to 
run    before    the  Lord,  presumptuously  taking    the  whole    work 
into  our  own  hands  ;  but  we  are  bound,  at  the  same  time,  to  follow 
promptly  where  he  leads.     Just    so  soon,  and  so  far,  as  the  way 
may  be  open  in  any  direction  for  advancing  the  outward  and  visi- 
ble oneness  of  the  Church,  without  prejudice  to    its  true  inward 
integrity,  it  is    our    solemn    duty  to   turn   the   occasion  to  this 
high  account.     It  is  not  to  be  imagined  of  course  that  the  general 
reconciliation  of  the  divisions   that  now  prevail  in  the  Christian 
world,  in  whatever   form  it  may  at   last   appear,   will  be  effected  , 
suddenly  and  at  once.     It  must  come,  if  it  come  at  all,  as  a  pro-  I 
cess,  gradually  ripening  into  this  glorious  result.     Every  instance  \ 
then  in  which  the  open  correspondence  and  communion  of  partie* 
ular  sections  of  the  Church,  is  made  to  assume  in  a  free  way,  a 
more  intimate  character  than  it  had  before,  deserves  to  be  hailed, 
as  being  to  some  extent  at  least  an  approximation   towards  the 
unity,  which  the  whole  body   is    destined  finally   to  reach.     No 
movement  of  this  sort  can  be  regarded    as  indifferent.     The  in-- 
terest  just  named,  is  the  highest  that  can  occupy  the  heart  of  the 
Church.     Whatever  can   serve  in  any  way  to  bring  together  the 
moral  dispersions  of  the   house  of  Israel,  must  be  counted  worthy 
of  the  most  earnest  regard.     All  Christians  then,  in  their  various  I 
denominational   capacities,  are  required,  as  they  love  the  Church  \ 
and  seek   the  salvation  of  the   world,  to  encourage  with   all  their  I 
might  a  closer  visible  connection   between  the    different  parts  of 
Christ's  body,  in  every  case  in  which  the  way  is  found  to  be  open 
for  the  purpose.    It  is  terrible  to  be  concerned,  however  remotely, 
in  dividing   the    Church  ;  but   a  high  and  glorious  previiege,  to 
take   part,  even  to   the  smallest  extent,  in  the  work  of  restoring 
these  divisions,    where   they  already  exist.     I  would  not  for  the 
world  be  the  founder  of  a  new  sect,  though  assured  that  millions 
would  at '^ last   range    themselves   beneath  its  shadow  ;  but  if  I 
might  be  instrumental  with   the  humblest  agency  in  helping  only 
to  pull  down  a  single  one  of  all  those  walls  of  partition,  that  now 
mock  the    idea  of  catholic  unity  in  the  visible  Church,  I  should  : 
feel  that  I  had  not  lived  in  vain,  nor  labored  without  the  most  ain- 
ple  and  enduring  reward. 


210 

In  view  of  all  that  has  thus  far  been  said,  we  may  now  be 
prepared,  respected  and  beloved  brethren  in  the  ministry  and 
eldership  of  the  Reformed  Church,  to  estimate  aright  the  weight  of 
the  occasion,  by  which  we  are  brought  together  this  day.  The 
very  object  of  this  Convention  is  to  bring  into  closer  visible  union, 
the  two  denominations  we  have  been  appointed  to  represent. 
Apart  altogether  from  the  counsels  and  action  of  the  Convention 
itself,  the  simple  fact  that  these  bodies  have  been  engaged  to  enter 
into  the  friendly  arrangement,  by  which  it  is  called  to  meet,  de- 
serves to  be  re^jarded  with  special  interest.  In  the  midst  of  the 
religious  divisions  and  dissensions  that  are  abroad  in  the  land,  it 
is  cheering  to  find  in  any  quarter,  an  active  movement  in  favor  of 
the  opposite  interest.  May  we  not  trust  that  the  measure  will  be 
owned  and  blessed  of  God,  and  that  through  his  blessing  it  may 
be  followed  in  time  to  come  with  consequences  of  good,  far  more 
vast  than  we  have  power  now  to  imagine. 

It  is  true  indeed,  that  the  Reformed  Dutch  and  German  Re- 
formed Churches  in  this  country,  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  dif- 
ferent denominations,  and  certainly  not  as  different  sects,  in  any 
right  sense  of  the  term.  They  have  been  from  the  beginning 
substantially  the  same  Church  ;  different  national  branches  only 
of  the  one  great  conmnunion  of  the  Reformed,  as  gloriously  re- 
presented in  the  ever  memorable  Synod  of  Dort.  The  faith  of 
Switzerland,  the  faith  of  the  Palatinate  and  the  faith  of  Holland, 
in.  the  Sixteenth  Century,  were  enriphatically  one  faith.  Trans- 
planted  to  this  country  too,  the  same  Churches  have  been  closely 
related  from  the  first ;  in  a  certain  sense  borne  upon  the  knees, 
and  nourished  from  the  breast,  of  the  same  compassionate  mother. 
For  the  fostering  care  of  the  Synod  of  Holland  was  never  more 
active  in  favor  of  the  scion  taken  from  its  own  trunk,  than  it 
showed  itself  to  be  in  planting  and  rearing  the  kindred  vine 
brought  over  from  Germany.  Nor  has  the  sense  of  this  relation-, 
ship  been  lost  since.  Still  the  two  bodies  have  stood  separate  and 
apart  as  distinct  religious  organizations,  with  comparatively  little 
knowledge  of  each  other's  circumstances,  and  nearly  as  much- 
apparent  estrangement  as  is  seen  to  characterize  the  relations  of 
sects  generally.  It  is  well  therefore  that  now  in  the  end,  we 
should  be  permitted  to  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  a  communion,, 
from  this  time  forwa^rd,  more  intimate  and  full.  It  is  well  that 
the  claims  of  our  kindred  life  have  come  to  make  themselves  sa 
felt  on  both  sides,  that  we  are  brought  thus  openly  to  recognize 
their  force,  and  give  visible  expression  to  the  one  spirit  by  which, 
we  are  consciously  bound  together.  The  Church  at  large  have 
reason  to  rejoice,  in  this  union.     It  is  something  won  for  the  cause 


211 

of  catholic  unity,  in  the  broadest  sense,  that  these  two  divisions  of 
the  Reformed  Church,  should  thus  embrace  each  other  in  the 
presence  of  the  whole  world,  and  proclaim  themselves  outwardly 
as  well  as  inwardly  the  same  ;  "one  body,  and  one  Spirit,  even 
as  we  are  called  in  one  hope  of  our  calling." 

Nor  should  it  be  allowed  to  impair  the  force  of  this  declaration, 
that  no  such  union  has  been  contemplated  in  this  case,  as  might 
involve  a  formal  ecclesiastical  amalgamation  of  the  two  Churches 
concerned.  All  are  agreed  that  nothing  of  this  sort,  is  for  the 
present  at  least,  to  be  attempted  or  desired.  Both  Churches 
would  only  be  embarrassed  by  the  measure,  if  it  could  possibly 
be  carried  into  effect.  But  happily  no  such  amalgamation  is 
needed  in  our  circumstances,  to  realize  the  fullest  unity  the 
Church  is  called  to  seek.  A  merely  territorial  separation,  where 
different  religious  bodies  not  only  hold  the  same  faith,  but  are 
openly  identified  as  one  interest,  cannot  be  said  in  any  fair  sense, 
to  involve  ecclesiastical  disunion.  The  Presbyterian  Church  of 
this  country  for  instance,  resolved  accordini^  to  the  recommenda- 
tion of  some  into  separate  independent  Synods,  would  be  one 
Church  still,  if  only  there  might  be  the  presence  of  one  Spirit  al- 
ways, sufficiently  active  to  proclaim  this  unity  and  cause  it  to  be 
felt,  in  a  public  way.  And  in  the  same  manner  the  Reformed 
Dutch  and  German  Churches  may  be  as  closely  bound  together 
as  the  honor  of  religion  requires,  forming  in  fact  but  one  commu- 
nion, while  yet  they  continue  denominationally  distinct,  as  before. 
No  closer  connection  than  this  in  fact  has  yet  come  to  hold,  be- 
tween the  two  Synods  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  itself,  as 
here  represented  at  this  time.  The  only  visible  bond  by  which 
they  are  held  together,  is  the  present  Convention. 

In  these  circumstances  it  is  plain  enough,  that  no  great  amount 
of  action,  in  the  common  sense,  can  reasonably  be  expected  from 
this  body.  We  must  not  allow  ourselves  however  to  estimate 
the  importance  of  the  arrangement  by  this  measure.  The  simple  ^ 
fact  of  the  Convention  itself,  as  an  open  public  demonstration  of  ^ 
the  mutual  confidence  and  good  will  of  the  Churches  to  which  we 
belong,  carries  in  it  a  moral  value,  in  all  respects  worthy  of  the 
occasion.  But  the  correspondence  thus  established  can  hardly 
fail  besides,  to  open  the  way  directly  for  a  more  friendly  state  of 
feeling  between  the  two  Churches,  by  bringing  them  to  know  each 
other  better,  and  to  feel  more  extensively  the  force  of  that  spiritual 
relationship  by  which  they  are  united.  '  If  this  Triennial  Meeting 
should  serve  no  other  purpose,  than  to  maintain  and  strengthen 
such  right  feeling,  it  would  well  deserve  to  be  perpetuated  on  this 
account  only.    But  it  may  be  expected  in  the  end  to  do  more  than 


212 

ihis.  It  is  the  want  of  mutual  familiar  knowledge  of  each  other's 
circumstances,  and  mutual  familiar  confidence  in  each  other's 
feelings,  on  the  part  of  the  two  Churches,  which  now  more  than 
anything  else  is  likely  to  circumscribe  the  range  of  the  Conven- 
tion's action  at  this  time  ;  by  creating  delicacy,  and  caution,  and 
restraint,  when  under  different  circumstances  no  call  for  any  such 
feeling  might  be  supposed  to  exist.  In  the  course  of  time,  it  may 
be  trusted,  the  connection  which  is  now  established,  will  itself 
serve  to  bring  each  Church  more  clearly  before  the  eye,  and  thus 
more  near  to  the  heart,  of  tlie  other.  Points  of  common  interest 
will  be  multiplied  and  room  for  common  action  extended.  The 
relation  of  the  two  bodies  may  be  expected  to  become  more'free,as 
it  becomes  more  familiar.  In  this  way,  it  is  quite  possible  at  least, 
that  a  much  wider  field  for  counsel  and  action  may  ultimately  be 
opened  for  the  Triennial  Convention,  than  any  have  yet  been  led 
to  anticipate. 

It  would  seem  to  lie  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  that 
Churches  so  related,  historically,  ecclesiastically,  and  geographi- 
cally, as  the  Reformed  Dutch  and  German  Reformed  Churches  in 
this  country,  should  find  occasion  for  common  counsel  and  com- 
mon action,  in  many  respects.  By  wise  co-operalion,  they  may 
surely  expect  to  make  themselves  felt  with  more  effect  in  the  land 
at  large,  than  they  are  likely  to  be  by  standing  wholly  separate 
and  apart.  The  interests  represented  in  the  two  Churches  are  in 
all  material  respects  the  same  ;  and  this  itself  would  seem  to  re- 
quire, that  they  should  regard  them  as  a  common  cause,  and 
combine  their  strength  in  carrying  them  forward.  In  the  great 
work  particularly  of  Home  Missions  in  the  broad  valley  of  the 
West,  it  should  be  seriously  considered  at  least  whether  such  con- 
junction of  counsels  and  efforts  be  not  called  for  at  their  hands. 
I  shall  not  pretend  however  to  say,  in  what  several  directions  or 
in  what  several  forms,  occasion  may  be  found  for  the  two  bodies 
thus  to  join  in  carrying  forward  the  same  general  work.  That  is 
a  question,  which  as  yet  none  of  us  can  be  rightly  prepared 
to  answer.  Only  we  may  take  it  for  granted  that  opportunities 
for  such  co-operation  will  not  fail  to  exist ;  while  wo  trust  to  the 
hallowed  influences  that  shall  spring  from  this  union  itself  to  bring 
them  in  due  time  to  light. 

I  rnay    be  permitted   in  conclusion  to  say,  that  the  time  has 
come,  when  the  Churches  of  the  Reformation  generally  have  need 
to  seek  among  themselves  a    closer  correspondence  and  alliance,  ^ 
than  has  hitherto  prevailed.     The  work  of  the  Reformation  is  not  j 
yet  complete.     In  every  great  movement  of  this   kind,  the  direc-  ' 
lion   taken  by  the  general  mind  is  liable  in  the  end  to  become 


213 

more  or  less  extreme ;  and  the  consequence  is  then  a  reaction  to* 
wards  the  abandoned  error,  which  is  often  more  dangerous  to  the 
cause  of  truth,  than  all  the  opposition  it  had  to  surmount  in  the  be- 
ginning.    To  such  extreme  the  tendencies  taken  by  the  Christian 
world  in  the  religious  revolution  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  have 
been  unfortunately  carried  ;  not  of  course  through  the  force  of  the 
principles  which  constituted  the  soul  of  that  revolution  at  the  first, 
but  by  reason  of  the  gradual  paralysis  of  these  principles,  where 
they  previously   prevailed.     The  most  distressing  phase  of  this 
bastard  protestantism,  the   liberty  of  the  Reformation  run  mad, 
has  been  presented  in  the  modern  rationalism  of  Germany,  and' 
the  Continent  of  Europe  generally.     A  different  form  of  it  we 
have  in  the  religious  radicalism,  with  its  infidel  and  semi-infidel' 
affinities,  into  which  the  dissenting  interest  of  Great  Britain  has 
been  to  some  extent   too  plainly  betrayed.     And  finally  it  is  the 
same  evil  substantially  which  stares  us  in  the  face,  in  the  un- 
bridled licentiousness  of  private  judgment,  as  it  appears  in  the 
endless  multiplication  of  sects,  on  our  own  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
All  this  may  be  considered  the  action  of  a  general  force  which 
has  been  at  work  for  three  centuries,  but  has  only  come  to  reveal 
itself  fully  in  these  startling  consequences,  within  a  comparatively 
recent  period.     And  now,  by   a  necessity  which  holds  in  the  in- 
most constitution  of  our  nature,  a  wide-spread  reaction  has  begun 
to  show  itself,  which  may  well  cause  the  friends  of  truth  to  trem-- 
ble.     This    it  seems  to  me  is  the  true   secret  of  the  mysterious- 
charm  which  popery  is  found  of  late  to  be  exercising  again  over 
men's    minds,    where   its  power  appeared  once  to  be  effectually 
destroyed  ;  and  the  true  secret  at  the  same  time  of  the  remarkable 
success,  which  has  attended  thus  far  the  progress  of  the  Oxford 
doctrines  in   the  Episcopal  Church,  both  in  England  and  in  this 
country.     In  this  view,  the  movement  must  be  regarded  as  spe- 
cially serious.     For  it  is  in  no  sense  the  result  of  accident  or  ca- 
price.    It  [springs  from  the  deepest  and  most  general  ground,  in 
the  character  of  the  age.     It  belongs  to  the  inmost  history  of  the 
Church.     It  is  the  grand  rebounding  movement  of  the  Reforma- 
tion itself,  by  which  more  fully  than  ever  before  is  to  be  tried  the 
truth  and  stability  of  the  principles,  from  which  the  Reformation 
sprang,  and  by  which  it  triumphed  in  the  beginning. 

The  contest  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  then  is  again  challenging 
the  strength  of  the  whole  Christian  world.  The  work  of  the  Re-- 
formation,  is  still  to  be  made  complete.  It  is  not  enough  now 
simply  to  cry  out  against  popery  and  puseyism,  as  a  return  to  ex^ 
ploded  errors.  The  truth  as  it  wrought  mightily  in  the  souls  of, 
the  reformers,  must  be  understood  as  well  as  felto.    Therc  is  atk 

19 


214 

opposition  to  the  errors  of  Rome  and  Oxford,  sometimes  displayed 
in  our  own   country,   which  may  be  said  to   wrong  the  cause  it 
affects  to  defend  almost  as  seriously  as  this  is  done  by  these  errors 
themselves.     In    its    blind  zeal,  and  shallow  knowledge,  it  sinks 
the  Church  to  the  level  of  a  temperance  society,  strips  the  minis- 
try of  its   divine  commission  and  so  of  its  divine  authority,  redu- 
ces  the  sacraments   to   mere  signs,   turns  all  that  is  mystical  into 
the  most  trivial  worldl  v    sense,    and  so  exalts   what  is  individual 
above  what  is  general   and  catholic,  as  in  fact  to  throw  open  the 
door  to   the   most  rampant  sectarian  license,  in  the  name  of  the . 
gospel,  that  any  may  choose  to  demand.  Opposition  to  Oxford  and 
Rome  in  this  form,  can  never  prevail.     If  the  cause  of  the  Refor- 
mation is  to  be  successfully  maintained  in  the  present  crisis,  t  re- 
peat it,  it  must  be,  not  simply  by  holding  fast  stubbornly  to  tbe^ 
forms  in  which  the  faith  of  the  Reformation  was  originally,  ex- ^ 
pressed,  but  by  entering   with  free  and  profound  insight  into  that 
faith  itself.     What  is  wanted  is  a  republication  of  the  principles  of 
the  Reformation,    not   in  the  letter  merely  that  killeth,  but  in  the 
living  spirit  of  the   men,  who  wielded  them  with  such  vast  effect 
in  the  Sixteenth  Century.     Never    was  there  a  more  solemn  call 
upon  the  Reformed  Churches,  to  clotho  themselves  fully  with  the 
power  of  the  life  that  is  enshrined  in  their  ancient  symbols.     And 
surely,  in  these  circumstances,  when  the  very  foundations  of  their 
common  faith  are  threatened,  not  by  a  casual  and  transient  dan- 
ger, but  by  a  force  that  is  lodged  deep  in  the  very  constitution  of 
the  age,  and  may  be  said  to  carry  in  itself  the  gathered  strength 
of  centuries;  when   questions  of  vital    import,  which  were  sup- 
posed to  have  been  settled   long  ago  are  again  to  be  encountered 
and  resolved,  on  an  issue  that  involves  the  very  existence  of  these 
Churches  themselves  ;  when  in  one  word  the  vast  struggle  of  the 
Reformation    is  to  be  taken  up  in   its  original  spirit  and  carried; 
forward,   through   a  crisis   that  may   be  considered  final  and  de- 
cisive, to  its  proper,  consummation  ;  surely,  I  say,  in  circumstan- 
ces like  these,  the  Churches  in   question   should  feel  themselves 
engaged  to  narrow  as  much  as  possible  the  measure  of  their  sepa-. 
ration,  and  strengthen  the  consciousness  of  their  unity.     The  in- 
terests  by  which  they  are  divided  are  kw  and  small,  as  compared 
with  those    that  should   bind  them  together.     The  glory  of  God 
and  the   honor  of  his  truth,  as  well  as  their  own  common  safety, 
require  that  they  should  stand  out  to  the  view  of  the  world,  not  as 
many  but  as  one,  the  Church,  (not  Churches,)  of  the  Reformation, 
the  body  of  Christ,  "the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth,"  one  body 
and  one  Spirit,  aven  as  they  are  called   in  one  hope  of  their  call- 
ing.    May   the    great  Head  of  the  Church  himself  interpose,   in 
ways  that  to    his  own  wisdom  shall  seem,  best,  to  conduct  the 


215 

hearts  and  counsels  of  his  people  to  this  result  ;  and  in  the  mean 
time  bestow  richly  upon  us  who  are  here  present  the  glorious 
power  of  his  grace,  that  we  may  be  enabled  to  be  faithful  to  this- 
high  interest  especially  in  the  exercise  of  the  trust  now  committed 
to  our  hands,  maintaining  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bonds  of. 
peace., 


